Indonesia Confirms 112th Human Bird Flu Death

Text of report in English by Japan’s largest news agency Kyodo

Jakarta, Sept. 9 Kyodo – A man in Indonesia has died of bird flu, bringing the country’s death toll from the disease to 112, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.

According to the ministry, the 38-year-old cargo truck driver from Tangerang in Banten Province, near Jakarta, developed bird flu symptoms such as fever, coughing and respiratory problems on July 4 but was not hospitalized until four days later. He died July 10.

The ministry said chickens and ducks around the man’s house are being tested.

Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari has said the number of bird flu cases surfacing in Indonesia is on the decline, according to the Indo Pos newspaper, based in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya.

“The number of bird flu cases tends to decrease because the patients infected by the virus have received appropriate and quick medical treatment,” she was quoted as saying Monday.

Avian influenza has infected at least 385 people in 15 countries since its reemergence in December 2003, with at least 243 of them having died, according to the World Health Organization figures released in mid-June.

Indonesia leads the table with 110 deaths, not including the last two cases announced on Aug. 3 and Tuesday, followed by Vietnam with 52 deaths, Egypt with 22 and China with 20.

The other affected countries are Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Djibouti, Iraq, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand and Turkey.

Originally published by Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 0734 9 Sep 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.