Two people suspected of being killed by bird flu in Indonesia

A teenager and a 28-year old woman were suspected of being killed by avian influenza in Indonesia, the country's Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

The initial tests of the two persons have shown positive of having H5N1 virus, but officials are still waiting for the result of the second tests for confirmation, said an official of the anti- bird flu center of the ministry Haris Subiantoro.

Should they were confirmed, it would bring the total fatality to 71 out of 91 cases, he said.

"Both of them have died and the initial tests were positive," Subiantoro told Xinhua.

The 14-year old boy, who began to get sick on March 13, died on Saturday last week in West Sumatra province, one day after he was admitted to a hospital, said the official.

Ten of chickens belong to his neighbor died suddenly two weeks before he started to get sick, said Subiantoro.

The woman from Central Jakarta got sick on Wednesday last week and was dead before down Wednesday at Gatot Subroto Hospital here, he said.

She was first admitted to the Islam Hospital in East Jakarta at the time when she was sick and then the woman was shifted to Gatot Subroto Hospital on March 24, said the official.

It was not clear whether she had contacts with fowls, said Subiantoro.

The number of bird flu cases in Indonesia has increased recently after months of absence of new cases.

The country has agreed to cooperate by sharing its bid flu virus sample with the World Health Organization for scientific purpose.

Indonesian health authorities have imposed a firm policy separating fowls from human. The authorities forbid raising fowls in residential areas.

But the implementation of the policy seem does not work, as the authorities in the most of 32 provinces in the country have failed to put it into effect, Indonesian Health Ministry Siti Fadilah Sufari told Xinhua.

Over 32 million families in Indonesia's vast archipelago have raising chickens on back yard, Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono has said.

Experts have warned international community of the risks of the disease should Indonesia fail to prevent the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus from spreading.

Millions of people can be killed should the highly pathogenic H5N1 mutate into a certain level, which can make it transmittable among humans.

The huge territory, back-yard centered farming and relatively little budget have hampered the authorities in the country to fight avian influenza.

Source: Xinhua