A 30-year-old Indonesian man who died earlier this week was infected with bird flu, a health official said yesterday, citing local test results.
The man, a resident of Jakarta's satellite town of Tangerang, died on Wednesday at the city's main hospital for the treatment of bird flu patients after five days of intensive care, said health ministry official Hariyadi Wibisono.
"He had a history of contact with sick poultry. The results of his local tests came in today [Friday]," Wibisono said. "We have sent them to the World Health Organization (WHO) accredited laboratory in Hong Kong for confirmation."
If confirmed, the man would be Indonesia's 25th bird flu fatality. Results from local tests, which are routinely sent abroad for review, are typically accurate.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has witnessed more bird flu deaths than any other country this year and has the second highest number of fatalities reported in the world since 2003, after Vietnam.
The nation has become a bird flu "time-bomb" because of its failure to eradicate the deadly H5N1 strain from numerous areas, the head of the World Organization for Animal Health warned earlier this month.
Most cases in Indonesia have been in the capital and its surroundings, where many people live in close proximity to poultry despite the urban environment, but infections have been found in birds in 26 of Indonesia's 33 provinces.
RSS