Plagues,
Pestilences and Diseases
Indonesian woman becomes fifth bird flu victim this year
A 24-year-old woman has died of bird flu on Indonesia's Sumatra
island, the fifth human death from the virus this year, a health
ministry official said on Wednesday.
Indonesia has been the nation hardest-hit by bird flu, with 150
deaths reported between 2003 and 2011 Photo: EPA/ADI WEDA
6:23AM GMT 07 Mar 2012
The Telegraph UK
"She tested positive for the H5N1 virus by the health ministry's
laboratory. It's the fifth death here this year," the ministry's
head of animal-borne infectious diseases, Rita Kusriastuti, told
AFP.
Concerns about avian influenza have risen in Asia since China in
late December reported its first fatality from the H5N1 virus in
18 months. Since then one more person has died in China, according
to the health ministry.
Indonesia has been the nation hardest-hit by bird flu, with 150
deaths reported between 2003 and 2011, according to the World
Health Organisation. Nine Indonesians died from the virus last
year.
"The woman was living in an area where there are many ducks and
chickens. She also had some (poultry) in her house," Kusriastuti
said, adding that she died on March 1 in a hospital in Bengkulu
city.
The virus typically spreads from birds to humans through direct
contact, but experts fear it could mutate into a form that is
easily transmissible between humans, with the potential to kill
millions in a pandemic.