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Indonesia confirms 120th human bird flu infection
The Straits Times
Tuesday 2008-01-22 15:58:22
A 30-year-old man has been confirmed as the 120th bird flu victim in the nation worst hit by the virus, the health ministry said.
The man is being treated in a Jakarta hospital for the disease, which has claimed 97 lives in Indonesia.
Two laboratory tests on the man showed that he was infected with the highly pathogenic virus, a statement from the ministry's bird flu centre said on Tuesday.
Two positive results of tests on blood and tissue samples are needed before Indonesian authorities can confirm a human bird flu infection.
The man, who is from the Jakarta satellite city of Tangerang, was first admitted to a private hospital there on Jan 14.
He was then referred to Jakarta's Persahabatan hospital on Jan 20 when his condition deteriorated.
'His condition was very bad when he came in to hospital. The patient is now in intensive care with severe pneumonia,' the head of the hospital's avian influenza team doctor Muchtar Ihsan said.
He said the patient was believed to have contracted the virus from birds in his neighbourhood.
'It has been reported that there are swallow nests and poultry farms around the patient's home,' Dr Ihsan said.
The man was the eighth person from Tangerang to be confirmed with the disease since October 2007. The other seven cases ended in death.
Humans are typically infected with bird flu by coming into direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the H5N1 virus may mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, sparking a deadly global pandemic.
Source: Indonesia confirms 120th human bird flu infection
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