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Jakarta Post

RI remains global bird flu ‘hot spot’

The number of bird flu infections has declined over the past few years, but Indonesia remains the virus’ “hot spot”, as backyard poultry farms remain the backbone in supplying meat for the population, a senior health official says

Elly Burhaini Faizal (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, December 30, 2011 Published on Dec. 30, 2011 Published on 2011-12-30T10:00:00+07:00

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RI remains global bird flu ‘hot spot’

T

he number of bird flu infections has declined over the past few years, but Indonesia remains the virus’ “hot spot”, as backyard poultry farms remain the backbone in supplying meat for the population, a senior health official says.

Rita Kusriastuti, director of animal-borne infectious disease control at the Health Ministry, said on Thursday that low figures in bird flu infections did not necessarily mean the worst was over, as chickens kept by residents in backyard farms had potential risk factors for transmitting the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1).

“It’s not surprising that up to now we have had to stay alert on bird flu and even declare our country as a bird flu “hot spot”, as we haven’t so far managed to implement good husbandry systems for those chickens,” she told a press briefing, marking the end of the four-year pilot phase of a bird flu-control project funded by the US and Singapore governments. The project is slated for termination on Friday.

Most of the country’s industrial scale poultry breeders apply hygienic practices, such as regularly disinfecting the chicken coops and applying strict, personal hygiene practices after contact with the birds.

In contrast, however, backyard poultry farms often apply less adequate hygiene practices, such as infrequently disinfecting chicken coops, or placing housed chickens too close to human settlements. This puts people living in surrounding areas at a higher risk of viral infection.

“It’s quite difficult for us to ban such backyard poultry farms, as traditionally, local people across the country depend on their chickens for their own food source,” Rita said.

World Health Organization (WHO) data shows that globally, bird flu cases reached 566 incidents with 332 deaths between 2003 and 2011. In Indonesia alone, during this period, bird flu cases reached 179, resulting in 147 deaths, which spread across 13 provinces.

The first cases of animals infected with bird flu in Indonesia were found in Pekalongan regency, Central Java, and Tangerang regency, Banten, in 2003. Then in June 2005, the virus infected a man and his child who were living in Serpong, Tangerang, making them the country’s first human sufferers of the H5N1 infection.

This prompted the signing of an agreement on bird flu control, which was aimed at creating better influenza pandemic preparedness in the region. The agreement was signed by the leaders of three countries: Indonesia, the US and Singapore, in Busan, South Korea, on Nov. 18, 2005.

The REDI Centre, a pilot partnership on avian influenza control in Tangerang regency, was set up according to an agreement between the Indonesian and US governments in Jakarta on June 6, 2007.

Indonesia experienced its first deaths from the disease this year, when two children from Bangli regency died of avian flu in Bali in October. Including these two cases, only nine cases of human infection from the H5N1 virus have been confirmed so far this year.

Muhammad Azhar, coordinator of the avian influenza control unit of the directorate general of animal husbandry and animal health at the Agriculture Ministry, said the H5N1 bird flu infection in animals has continued to decline since reaching its peak in 2007.

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