Indonesia tests boy for bird flu after sister dies

JAKARTA (Reuters) – An Indonesian toddler died on Tuesday
and was being tested for bird flu, several days after his
13-year-old sister died of the deadly H5N1 virus according to
local tests, a senior Health Ministry official said.

Hariadi Wibisono, the ministry’s director of control of
animal-borne diseases, said the latest local test results on
the 3-year-old boy were not conclusive on whether he had bird
flu. An initial result had earlier shown he was positive for
the virus.

“He is a borderline case so we need to have more tests,”
Wibisono told Reuters.

Wibisono on Monday had said another sibling, a 15-year-old
girl from the same family that came from the West Java town of
Indramayu, also had bird flu.

However, latest local results on her were negative, he
said.

Outside laboratories recognized by the World Health
Organization have confirmed 12 deaths in Indonesia and five
cases where patients have survived. It is usually some days
before confirmation is available.

The H5N1 virus is not known to pass easily between humans
at the moment, but experts fear it could develop that ability
and set off a global pandemic that might kill millions of
people.

It is confirmed to have killed 79 people in six countries
since late 2003.

The highly pathogenic strain is endemic in poultry in parts
of Asia, and has affected birds in two-thirds of the provinces
in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands and 220 million
people.