Indonesia reports more bird flu deaths

[grace]

http://news.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/World/C...;amp;abc=abc#PS

 

Indonesia reports more bird flu deaths

19/05/2006 6:38:03 PM

 

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The World Health Organization has confirmed two more deaths in Indonesia from bird flu, bringing the nation's overall toll from the virus to 32.

 

 

 

Two more deaths attributed to avian flu are reported in Indonesia.

(Associated Press)

Health Ministry officials in Jakarta say one of the latest victims is a 10-year-old boy from Sumatra.

 

The boy is the fifth confirmed death in a cluster of deaths among relatives in the area. The cluster - Indonesia's largest to date - has raised fears of the possibility of human-to-human transmission in the world's fourth most populous nation.

 

The WHO says "if human-to-human transmission has occurred, it has not been either efficient or sustained."

 

The second of the latest two victims - a 12-year-old boy - died after being infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus on the outskirts of Jakarta.

 

"The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed an additional case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus," said the WHO in a statement on its website.

 

"The case occurred in a 12-year-old boy from Bekasi in East Jakarta. He was hospitalized on 7 May and died on 13 May. An investigation is under way to determine the source of his infection."

 

Since late 2003, bird flu has killed nearly 120 people, mostly in Asia.

 

Experts fear the virus may mutate into a form that can pass easily between humans, sparking a pandemic.

 

[cartoongirl]

Keep our eyes peeled and our ears open.

 

If we see larger family clusters appearing at higher rates that is a definate red flag.

 

Thx, Kim.

[Guest Guest]

Indonesia is already a red flag and a serious cause for concern.

 

Do what you can, while you can.

 

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05200601...a_Clusters.html

 

Suspect H5N1 Clusters in Surabaya Indonesia Cluster

 

Recombinomics Commentary

May 20, 2006

 

A suspected 20-year male bird flu sufferer who has been treated in Budi Mulia hospital since May 9, died here at 8.3. am on Saturday.

 

Two patients beforehand were a woman was the citizen's approximately 30 years old Pucang Young Ii Surabaya and AP one of the citizen's Kediri students

 

The patient of the citizen's woman Pucang Young Ii Surabaya had finally died, after could be treated by RKZ because his condition has been serious enough. While the patient from Kediri that is reconciled to RSUD Dr Soetomo, currently still in the intensive maintenance in this hospital.

 

one casualty died with the assumption of bird flu. The Lily, the Surabaya citizen, died on Friday last week.

 

the child the Lily is currently treated in the hospital with the sign similar to bird flu.

 

The above translations define a new cluster of confirmed or suspect H5N1 bird flu cases in Surabaya. The confirmed case (38F) was describe in the WHO update. She developed symptoms on May 2, was hospitalized on May 7, and died May 11. The above report indicates her child is now hospitalized with bird flu symptoms, consistent with human-to-human transmission within a family.

 

Another suspect case (20M) died today, but the same hospital has admitted two additional suspect cases, a teacher (30F) who died earlier, and her student (18M) who is in critical condition and on a respirator.

 

The geographical cluster in Surabaya thus has one confirmed and four suspect cases. Two of the suspect cases have died, and the student of one has been hospitalized. Similarly, the child of the confirmed case has also been hospitalized.

 

Familial clusters in Indonesia have been common. Almost all have a 5-10 day gap between the index case and family member. Recently a seven member cluster in North Sumatra was described. H5N1 has been confirmed in all but the index case, and six of the seven have died, This cluster, the largest to date, has fueled concern about increased efficiency of human-to-human transmission. This cluster may be extended because one of the family members (10M) developed symptoms later than the other family member, and now the father of that fatal case has been hospitalized.

 

The growth in the number and size of the clusters has focused attention on the sequences of the H5N1 isolated from the patients. However, sequences from only one of the human H5N1 isolates has been released. It has a novel cleavage site, RESRRKKR, that has not been reported in any of the publicly available bird sequences from Indonesia or elsewhere.

 

These data suggest that the majority of the reported humans cases in Indonesia have not been linked to an avian sequence. Most of the sequences human isolates have been from West Java, including various locations in Jakarta and suburbs. Some of the avian sequence also are from West Java (see below)

 

The lack of a connection with bird H5N1 sequences and the increasing size and number of human clusters has raised pandemic concerns.

 

DQ320932 A/chicken/Bantul/BBVet-I/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ497667 A/chicken/Dairi/BPPVI/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ497668 A/chicken/Deli Serdang/BPPVI/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ497651 A/chicken/Gunung Kidal/BBVW/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ497652 A/chicken/Kulon Progo/BBVW/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ497643 A/chicken/Magetan/BBVW/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ497648 A/chicken/Purworejo/BBVW/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ320928 A/chicken/Salatiga/BBVet-I/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ497669 A/chicken/Tarutung/BPPVI/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ497666 A/chicken/Tebing Tinggi/BPPVI/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ320933 A/chicken/Wajo/BBVM/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ497659 A/duck/Parepare/BBVM/2005 2005 H5N1

DQ497655 A/chicken/Bangli Bali/BBPV6-1/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497656 A/chicken/Bangli Bali/BPPV6-2/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497657 A/chicken/Jembrana/BPPV6/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ320931 A/chicken/Kulon Progo/BBVet-XII-1/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497650 A/chicken/Kulon Progo/BBVet-XII-2/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497662 A/chicken/Kupang-1-NTT/BPPV6/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497660 A/chicken/Kupang-2-NTT/BPPV6/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497661 A/chicken/Kupang-3-NTT/BPPV6/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497642 A/chicken/Malang/BBVet-IV/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497658 A/chicken/Mangarai-NTT/BPPV6/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497644 A/chicken/Ngawi/BPPV4/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497663 A/chicken/Pangkalpinang/BPPV3/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497653 A/chicken/Purwakarta/BBVet-IV/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ320930 A/chicken/Yogjakarta/BBVet-IX/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497647 A/quail/Boyolali/BPPV4/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497654 A/quail/Tasikmalaya/BPPV4/2004 2004 H5N1

DQ497645 A/chicken/Pekalongan/BPPV4/2003 2003 H5N1

DQ497646 A/chicken/Sragen/BPPV4/2003 2003 H5N1

AY651324 A/Ck/Indonesia/4/2004 2004 H5N1

AY651325 A/Ck/Indonesia/5/2004 2004 H5N1

AY651322 A/Dk/Indonesia/MS/2004 2004 H5N1

AY651323 A/Ck/Indonesia/2A/2003 2003 H5N1

AY651321 A/Ck/Indonesia/BL/2003 2003 H5N1

AY651320 A/Ck/Indonesia/PA/2003 2003 H5N1

 

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05200602...a_Pandemic.html

 

Suspect H5N1 Clusters in Surabaya Raise Pandemic Concerns

 

Recombinomics Commentary

May 20, 2006

 

The recent reports of suspected H5N1 bird flu cases in Surabaya is cause for concern. The index case has been confirmed and died May 12. Her child is currently hospitalized with bird flu symptoms and an unrelated patient has also just died.

 

Although only one case has been confirmed, two additional suspect cases have raised additional concerns. One fatal infection is of a teacher, and one of her students has been hospitalized and is on a respirator. Transmission of H5N1 outside of a family has been rare. In Vietnam one confirmed transmission chain involved an index case, his sister, and a nurse, all of whom were H5N1 confirmed. A second nurse had symptoms, but was not confirmed in lab tests. However, the vast majority of clusters have been limited to family members. There was a large cluster in Turkey at the beginning of 2006, and more recently the largest Indonesian cluster, in North Sumatra. However, all members of these cluster were related to the index case.

 

The cluster involving teacher and student has not been reported previously. Such transmission would signal an increased efficiency and diminish the likelihood that the familial clusters were genetically linked. An earlier cluster of five in Haiphong involved a husband and wife and three daughter. All five family members were H5N1 confirmed and the infection of both husband and wife diminishes the genetic link. The results of tests on neighbors with symnptoms has been withheld.

 

Concerns that transmission is from a source other than avian has been raised since almost all sequenced human cases in West Java have a novel cleavage site not found in poultry isolates. This novel sequence has also been found in a cat, raising the possibility that the sequence is closely linked to mammalian infections.

 

Since most suspect cases in Indonesia are not tested in the absence of a poultry link, many infections from a mammalian source many not be diagnosed. The frequent detection of the novel cleavage site highlights the need for more aggressive testing of avian and swine H5N1 infections.

 

Similarly, the H5N1 human and animal sequences sequestered at the WHO private data base should be released immediately.

 

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05210601...ya_Student.html

 

H5N1 Confirmed in Student Teacher Cluster in Surabaya

 

Recombinomics Commentary

May 21, 2006

 

An 18-year-old East Java shuttlecock maker has been diagnosed with bird flu, according to local test results announced on Sunday.

 

The confirmation of H5N1 bird flu in the student in the teacher/student cluster in Surabaya is cause for concern. The teacher died earlier and the circumstances surrounding here hospitalization and death have not been described.

 

Correction:

 

The teacher decribed earlier appears to be another media description of the confirmed fatality (38M) and therefore there is no infected teacher and no relationship between a fatally infected teacher and the H5N1 confirmed student.

 

However, the confirmation of her student raises the number of confirmed cases to two, and increases the likelihood at the other three members of the cluster have been infected with H5N1.

 

This cluster is in East Java and distinct from the larger cluster in North Sumatra. These clusters in addition to the clusters in and around Jakarta raise additional concerns and highlight the need for the release of the human and animal sequences sequestered at the private WHO database. Most of the human Indonesian sequences have a novel cleavage site not found in the avian isolates suggesting the human cases are not linked to poultry, increasing pandemic concerns.

 

 

[gardnmom]

This is very worrisome.

[Mother]

If we are hearing this, what are they NOT telling us. I suppose we need to watch the World Health Organiztion pandemic level chart to see how soon it will be changed.

 

 

[Guest Guest]

Wrong.

 

Don't look to the WHO for any timely alert in the event of a pandemic.

 

Keep your own eyes and ears open and keep your thumb on the pulse of this thang.

 

Well, that's what I'm gonna do at least...I don't trust the WHO one iota.

[Mother]

I don't either Darlene, but you know what,,,,,,I trust you and the Mrs. S members to help with the watch. Early warning is the one thing that makes us different from the common public. We will know first.

 

I know one thing for sure though......prices are going up! If you watch the stores you can see that what you bought last week will probably cost you at least a few cents more this week, and with the hurricane season starting in the south