P

DY brought a sick pigeon to his home last December in Sunter Agung, Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, oblivious to the dangers of contact with fowl that might carry the lethal H5N1 virus.

The 23-year-old, who was known to love pigeons, had offered to look after the sick bird, which belonged to his friend. He tried to heal the bird, but to no avail. He then took it to a car repair shop near the Sulianti Suroso Hospital, a referral infirmary for bird flu patients, where he had kept other pigeons.

The bird died on Dec. 31, but on New Year’s Eve, PDY had a high fever. The family thought he had a usual fever and gave him pills, but only to find his condition worsening. He was eventually taken to Satya Negara Hospital, wherein he was diagnosed as having symptoms of bird flu. He died a few days later.

While his relatives mourned his death, his five-year-old sister, identified as ASR, was rushed to Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta
after showing similar symptoms. She was initially cleared of the
H5N1 infection, but further tests proved she was bird flu positive. She died on Jan. 16, but this was only revealed by the Health Ministry on Thursday.

Their mother, Sriyati, refused to talk to journalists about the deaths of her children, saying, “It’s just very sad. I can’t remember much about how they became infected.”

Radi Permana, a relative of the victims, told The Jakarta Post that PDY and ASR were very close. “He often took his sister to the car repair shop and showed her the pigeons,” he said.

Risa, who lives next door to the siblings, said that the family became reclusive after the loss of their
children. The neighbors were also told that ASR did not die of bird flu, but of dengue. “Somehow, we knew that she died from bird flu,” another neighbor, who declined to be named, said. “But we understand why they don’t want to tell people about it.”

The death of the two siblings had brought the number of bird flu casualties in the country to 152 since the first bird flu incident in 2005. The Jakarta administration had culled hundreds of fowl illegally kept in residential areas in a campaign to raise awareness of the virus.

Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said Friday that the government would remain alert to the avian influenza threat despite the significant decrease in H5N1 cases. “We will remain vigilant regarding bird flu as it remains a threat, primarily due to poultry. Therefore, infection control measures should include not only the Health Ministry, but also other institutions, such as the animal husbandry directorate general at the Agriculture Ministry,” she told journalists at a press conference on bird flu.

According to the minister, the Health Ministry will make early vigilance a priority to tackle bird flu by conducting, among others things, sentinel surveillance, both in hospitals and community health centers. “In the community health centers, we take specimens from people seemingly infected by the flu and test to see whether they have the seasonal flu virus only or H5N1,” Endang said.

At hospitals, health workers will take specimens from people with acute lung disease to see whether they are infected with H5N1 virus. Several hospitals have also been assigned by the government as bird flu referral centers.

The Health Ministry has assigned 100 hospitals since 2007 as referral centers for avian influenza, but they have different capacities in dealing with different cases.

“About 80 hospitals already have isolation rooms to treat patients suspected of being infected with bird flu, however, only 20 hospitals have airborne infection isolation rooms with negative pressure,” said Endang, adding that surveillance was jointly conducted with the Agriculture Ministry’s animal husbandry directorate general.

Laboratories are among the core capacities the government will develop in tackling the disease. “We will continue to improve the capacity of our laboratories so not only labs in Jakarta can conduct bird flu-related tests, but also all 42 labs throughout the country,” Endang said. (lfr)