Bird flu spreading like fire in Indonesia

Jakarta -- Bird Flu in Indonesia is spreading like wild fire, making it the most affected country of Asia. The World Health Organization today confirmed the death toll to be 48.

The deaths, which occurred last year, were also added to the recent tallies because of some changes in the standards set by WHO. The 14 year old girl from Makassar in South Sulawesi province who died on June 24, 2005 and the 8 year old girl from Tangerang in Banten province who died on July 14, 2005, were also added to the list.

According to the new case definitions for H5N1 infection, a total of 63 cases have been reported in Indonesia after the epidemic broke, out of which 48 people died.

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as A(H5N1) or H5N1, is a subtype of the Influenza A virus that is capable of causing illness in many animal species, including humans.

A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for "highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1", is the causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as "avian influenza" or simply "bird flu", and is endemic in many bird populations, especially in Southeast Asia. One strain of HPAI A(H5N1) of Asian lineage is spreading globally. It is epizootic (an epidemic in nonhumans) and panzootic (a disease affecting animals of many species, especially over a wide area), killing tens of millions of birds and prodding the culling of hundreds of millions of other birds in an attempt to control its spread.

The authorities are trying to control the spread of virus in fowls, which eventually pass to humans. At present, Indonesia has the highest death toll from bird flu.

Last month, Indonesian health authorities had culled fowls as a measure to save the country from any more deaths.

The global spread of (highly pathogenic) H5N1 in birds is considered a significant pandemic threat.

While prior H5N1 strains have been known, they were significantly different from the current H5N1 strain on a genetic level, making the global spread of this new strain unprecedented.

Since 2003, the virus is known to have infected 244 people in 10 countries, of whom 143 were killed.