Two more suspected bird flu deaths in Indonesia
Pastor Dale Morgan
Two more suspected bird flu deaths in Indonesia*
Reuters
Monday, March 26, 2007; 11:58 PM
JAKARTA (Reuters) - A teenager and a 22-year-old woman have died from
suspected bird flu in Indonesia, a health ministry official said on Tuesday.
Both had tested positive for the H5N1 virus after an initial test, but
officials were awaiting the result of a second test.
Indonesia has the world's highest human death toll from bird flu and if
confirmed by the second test, the latest two deaths would take
Indonesia's confirmed human death toll from the virus to 68.
A 15-year-old boy from Indramayu in West Java died on Sunday after
falling ill on March 16 and receiving treatment in several hospitals,
Muhammad Nadirin at the health ministry's bird flu center said by telephone.
The 22-year-old woman from Palembang in southeast Sumatra died on March
24. The Antara state news agency reported that she had not had contact
with fowl, but that there were at least 10 cats at her house.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that cats should
be kept away from areas affected by bird flu as they can pick up and
spread the disease.
An initial test also showed that a 39-year-old man from Mojokerto in
East Java was suffering from the H5N1 virus, Nadirin said. He was being
treated at the Soetomo Hospital in the city of Surabaya.