Indonesia Confirms 87th Bird Flu Death

A 44-year-old Indonesian woman from Sumatra Island has died of bird flu, taking the death toll from the virus to 87, a health ministry official said on Monday. The deceased from Riau province of the Indonesian island of Sumatra was positively infected by avian influenza, the ministry confirmed.

The confirmation of latest fatal incidence came slightly more than a month after the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu took life of a 21-year-old Indonesian man from West Jakarta, the 86th victim of the virus.

The woman, who was first treated at a clinic on last Monday (Oct. 1), died at the general hospital in Pekanbaru, central Sumatra.

She fell ill after buying chickens from a market in Pekanbaru city in central Sumatra. Blood tests showed that she had the lethal H5N1 strain of the virus, the health ministry's bird flu information centre said in a press release.

"Two laboratory tests of the woman who died on Saturday were positive," said Joko Suyono, an official of anti-bird-flu center of the ministry. 'The total number of cumulative Avian Influenza human cases in Indonesia is 108, with 87 deaths,' he added.

It is still not clear whether woman had historical contact with fowl, the officials said, investigators from animal husbandry are heading to the woman's residential area in order to verify how the woman was exposed to the virus.

Indonesia, the world's fourth-most-populous country and one that stretches across 17,000 islands in an archipelago as wide as the continental United States, is the worst affected by the Asian bird flu pandemic with the 87 fatalities (including the latest death).

The country is struggling hard to fight with highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses, and has been criticized internationally for not taking enough concerted action in the fight against bird flu.

In order to regain its status as a bird flu free nation, Indonesia already has completed a clinical test for anti-bird-flu vaccine for human. Developed in cooperation with the U.S. drug maker Baxter in September, the vaccine is now ready for use.

The deadly bird flu has spread so fast that it has enveloped the whole globe under its wings. The H5N1 strain emerged in South East Asia in 2003 and has been spreading ever since. Many birds have been killed or destroyed as a result of the outbreak.

Since February, a number of deaths have been reported and the infection is on rise. Other parts of Asia, including India, which is now an avian influenza free nation, China, Hong Kong, etc, have taken the necessary measures to tackle the disease, but death toll in Indonesia continue to rise.

Human population effected by bird flu has also been increasing. The first death was reported in January 2006 and aroused the concern of the World Health Organization, who claimed that it spreads through the consumption of infected poultry. However, they ruled out the possibility of transfer of the flu from person to person.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 virus has so far engulfed 197 human lives out of 325 cases since it surfaced in 2003.

Most human infections have occurred after contact with birds infected with H5N1 virus, which according to the Geneva-based WHO is generally not harmful to humans, but scientists now fear the deadly H5N1 strain could mutate and become easily transmissible among people.

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

The H5N1 virus though remains primarily a virus of birds, but experts fright that once it starts transmitting from person to person, it would sweep the world, leaving millions more to die and triggering a devastating human pandemic.