Four Confirmed or Suspect H5N1 Cases in Jakarta Area
Recombinomics Commentary 12:11
January 28, 2008
A 9-year-old Indonesian boy who had tested positive for bird flu died on Monday, the health ministry said in a statement, taking the country's death toll from the deadly disease to 99.
The boy from the outskirts of Jakarta died at the Sulianto Saroso hospital on Sunday after being treated in different hospitals for two weeks, said Joko Suyono, an official at the ministry's bird flu information centre.
A 31-year-old woman and 32-year-old man hospitalised at Persahabatan hospital for fever and respiratory problems also tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus on Monday, the ministry said.
According to the statement, the woman lived in East Jakarta near a poultry slaughterhouse that kept many fowl believed to be the source of her H5N1 infection.
The man from Tangerang, west of Jakarta, is believed to have contracted H5N1 from his neighbour's pet doves, the ministry said.
Authorities are also expecting genetic test results to come back for a fourth case, a 23-year-old housewife from East Jakarta, who died on Sunday from bird flu symptoms.
The above comments described four confirmed or suspect H5N1 patients in the Jakarta area. Two of the four have died within 24 hours of each other.
The clustering of cases in the Jakarta area has been seen previouslyludin the first confirmed cases in Indonesia, but this is among the highest number of cases announced at the same time.
Since the cases are at four distinct locations, and do not appear to be linked, the clustering reflects H5N1 in the Jakarta area that is more efficiently transmitted to humans.
Release of sequences from these patients would be useful.
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