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The WHO reported that an Indonesian who died last week contracted bird flu, and is the 42nd casualty in the country’s war against H5N1.
A WHO-accredited laboratory in Hongkong confirmed the diagnosis by local tests that a 44-year old man had the H5N1 virus. This year alone, 31 Indonesians have died of bird flu, increasing faster than any other country, and bringing the total fatalities to tie with Vietnam. Although 42 people have died from Vietnam since 2003, there was no new death recorded this year because of an agressive campaign to slaughter all birds in infected areas.
On the other hand, Indonesia had been neglectful of the impending outbreak and then slow to carry out widespread culling, earning criticism and blame from international and local health experts. With an estimated 2 billion chickens, the H5N1 virus is endemic in poultry in 27 of 33 Indonesian provinces.
An expert veterinarian in Indonesia admitted that the country won’t be able to control the spread of bird flu in the near future because of the government’s ineffective implementation of its bird flu plan.
[Source for raw data, as of July 20, 2006: WHO; News Source: Jakarta News]
Tags: avian influenza, bird flu deaths, H5N1, Indonesia, WHO
