Tamiflu Blanket Over Tanggamus Island in South Sumatra
Recombinomics Commentary
September 5, 2007
Accordingly, in order to prevent illness bird flu self side already mebagikan medicine type Tamiflu to entire resident Pulau Tabuhan, especially they who their poultry experience death.
The above translation indicates the Tamiflu blanket covers the entire island, which is located in the Taggamus regency in Lampung at the southern tip of Sumatra. Although the poultry has not been reported as H5N1 positive, the birds displayed classical H5N1 symptoms, which included a blue comb, throat and nasal secretions, and sudden death. The poultry deaths exceeded 1000 and patients symptoms coincided with the poultry deaths, which began about a month ago.
The island is near an earlier cluster in southern Sumatra in the Tanggamus regency in Lampung province. That cluster was described in detail in the New England Journal of Medicine. All three family members survived. They were lab confirmed, but one family member was not immediately tested for H5N1 because his symptoms were mild and he was misdiagnosed as having typhoid fever. H5N1 was subsequently confirmed with antibodies in convalescent serum. Similarly, the other two family members were confirmed via H5N1 PCR assays, but H5N1 virus was not isolated from the family members (although H5N1 was isolated from their dead poultry).
These non-fatal infections in three family members, signaled an efficient transmission to humans. H5N1 was not detected in additional family members, but the cluster raised concerns about undetected mild cases which would resolve in the absence of anti-viral treatment (only two of the three family members were treated, and treatment began days after the recommended 48 hours post symptoms).
The current outbreak is linked to four deaths in children, but the majority of patients have recovered and have been diagnosed as having typhoid fever. Media reports do not mention H5N1 testing of poultry or patients.
However, the throwing of a Tamiflu (oseltamivir) blanket over the entire small island signals concerns of H5N1 spread in humans on the island in the Tanggamus regency, Lampung Province, in southern Sumatra
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