WP: Indonesia Warns of Possible Bird Flu Epidemic (apathy to alarm there)

[DeepModem Mom]

Indonesia Warns of Possible Bird Flu Epidemic
By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, September 21, 2005


JAKARTA, Indonesia, Sept. 21 -- Indonesia could be on the brink of a bird flu epidemic if the virus continues to accelerate, the country's health minister warned Wednesday as the number of suspected cases in the capital continued to mount.

Siti Fadillah Supari's remarks came as a pair of young girls with bird flu symptoms died in Jakarta hospitals and two days after the government declared it was taking "extraordinary" measures to stem the spread of the virus, including the mandatory hospitalization of anyone with suspicious symptoms.

The health ministry has already confirmed four previous deaths from avian influenza, most recently a 37-year-old Jakarta woman who died two weeks ago. Since then, at least 10 other people have been admitted to hospitals with high fevers and breathing difficulties symptomatic of bird flu, including the two girls, ages 5 and 2, who died Wednesday. Indonesian health officials said they remain unsure whether these children had bird flu and are awaiting further test results from a specialized Hong Kong laboratory.

Though bird flu was first detected in Indonesian poultry more than two years ago and then spread across the majority of the country's provinces, health ministry officials had minimized the threat, saying the virus was not infecting humans as it had elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

But after a 38-year-old auditor and two of his daughters died from the disease in a wealthy Jakarta suburb two months ago, the health ministry and officials from the World Health Organization stepped up efforts to control its spread. Apathy has quickly shifted to alarm with a large, front-page headline in the Jakarta Post asking Wednesday: "Bird flu outbreak: Is it time to panic?"...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092100638.html

[phantom power]

1. I'm glad they're taking it seriously.

PBS had a great "Wide Angle" program about avian flu last night. If they run it again, I recommend it.

In Vietnam, people apparently like to eat raw duck's blood soup. Their government has been warning them about the threat, but many don't really believe it.

Predictably, the U.S. is about the worst-prepared industrial nation for this danger, but they had a government flunky on saying "The President is taking this threat very seriously."

Sure he is... Sure he is.