.
Twelve H5N1 Bird Flu Patients Linked To Ragunan Zoo
Recombinomics Commentary
September 24, 2005
Until at this time the number of patients was suspected of by birds flu that was the visitor Ragunan reaching 12 people.
The number of patients currently reaches 21 people and three additional patients who came on Saturday (24/9), that is Dony (15 years) the Tangerang citizen, Bilsqi Widyawati (1.5 years) the citizen Cempaka White Jakarta and Ageng the Murti Day (2 years) the citizen of the Big Bekasi Hut.
All of them had visited Ragunan.
He said the Karwati condition (27), the citizen Cikarang, the employee Ragunan, not better and still was in maintenance space of Integrated Circuit the Unit (ICU).
The above machine translation indicates the number of patients at the Sulianti Saroso hospital with ties to the Rangunan Zoo is now up to 12. Three are zoo workers, including one, Karwati, who is in critical condition. She and tour guide, Aniek Setyonni, have both tested positive for H5N1 antibody.
The hospital also is treating food vendor, Abdul Muntalib. Test result announced indicated only 4 of 27 zoo birds tested were negative. The positive samples were collected September 5 and 6, so workers and visitors had been exposed to infected birds for some time before the zoo closed on September 19.
Although many of the patients had visited the zoo that weekend, Bilqis Widiawati had visited the zoo on September 11 and had been hospitalized at RS Medika Griya Sunter. Thus, like most of the suspected bird flu case, hospitalization was not revealed until transfer to Sulianti Saroso, which for Bilqis was September 24.
Thus, the number of zoo visitors with symptoms may be significantly higher than the 12 patients admitted. Indeed 115 visitors were turned away earlier this week and a high school class of 30 had visited the zoo on September 18, and students soon developed high fevers. These patients have also not been admitted.
The visit over an extended time period indicates that the infections were not due to an unusual event. It seems that multiple visitors where infected on several days and there had been little evidence of close contact.
The transmission of H5N1 to zoo visitors over an extended time period indicates that H5N1 is now transmitting via casual contact, a strong signal that the pandemic has moved to phase 5.
Map
Media Quotes