Indonesia prepares for bird flu pandemic despite declining cases
24/9/2008 17:45
The number of humans infected by the H5N1 virus in Indonesia this year was
20 as of August, with 17 fatalities. Seeing the situation, Indonesia should
persist in preparing for a bird flu pandemic despite reports suggesting declines
in cases of bird-to-human and bird-to-bird infections.
"This is a decline,
from 55 cases with 45 fatalities in 2006 and 42 cases with 37 fatalities in
2007," the Jakarta Post daily today quoted the Indonesian Health Ministry's
director for animal-vector diseases Erna Tresnaningsih as saying.
Indonesia
has recorded a total of 137 confirmed bird-to-human infections, 112 of them
fatal, since July 2005, when the H5N1 virus was first found to attack
humans.
Twelve of the country's 33 provinces had recorded infections in
humans, but seven of the provinces saw no new cases in the past year, leaving
incidents of bird flu infections concentrated in West Sumatera, Banten, Jakarta,
West Java and Central Java.
Xinhua
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