Indonesia reports ninth bird flu patient

An eight-year-old boy has been declared positive of bird flu in Indonesia, bringing the number of bird flu cases to nine in the country, a local newspaper reported Tuesday.

The new bird flu patient was identified as Ilham Junaidi, whose elder sister died of bird flu last week, said The Jakarta Post.

But a spokesman with the Sulianto Saroso Hospital here dismissed suggestion that Ilham had contracted the disease from the deceased sister Ina Sholati.

"Although he had close contact with Ina, Ilham did not get the disease from her," Ilham Patu, the spokesman, was quoted as saying.

Nineteen-year-old Ina, who had many birds in her house, died on Oct. 28 after several days of treatment at another hospital in the Jakarta suburb of Tangerang. The hospital believed Ilham and Ina contracted the virus from the birds.

Patu said his hospital had received results of a laboratory test at the World Health Organization-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong, which confirmed that Ilham had avian influenza.

According to WHO, Ina and Ilham were the eighth and ninth bird flu patients in Indonesia with seven in Greater Jakarta. Five have died since July, while the condition of the other four are improving.

Source: Xinhua