54 people in Indonesian bird flu quarantine: WHO

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Fifty-four people in Indonesian bird flu quarantine: WHO

Published: 5/31/2006

GENEVA - More than 50 people who may have come into contact with an

Indonesian family decimated by bird flu have been placed in voluntary

quarantine, the World Health Organisation said Wednesday.

The UN agency said the number of people in quarantine had increased

to 54. But it said no new cases of infection by the potentially

deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus have been detected since May 22 in

the affected village in North Sumatra, where seven members of the

same family were confirmed to have died earlier this month.

" This finding is important as it indicates that the virus has not

spread beyond the members of this single extended family, " said the

WHO in a statement.

" Despite multiple opportunities for the virus to spread to other

family members, health care workers or into the general community, it

has not, on present evidence, done so. "

However, as a precaution, Indonesian health authorities will keep

monitoring the village for three more weeks -- one more than

recommended by the WHO.

The people in quarantine, who include family members and other close

contacts, are receiving the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu as a

precaution and are being checked daily for flu symptoms, said the

WHO.

Earlier this month, fears of possible human-to-human transmission of

avian influenza were heightened after it was confirmed that the

family members had died.

The emergence of a strain of bird flu that spreads easily among

people would raise the spectre of a global flu pandemic like those

which killed millions of people in the past.

The WHO said that the 37-year-old woman who was the first family

member to fall sick appeared to have had contact with sick chickens,

while the other victims had had close contact with her or fellow

family members who subsquently fell ill.

However, said the WHO, there is no reason to hike the current alert

level.

" There is no evidence that the virus is spreading in an efficient and

sustained manner from one person to another, " it said.

More than 120 people have died of bird flu around the world since

late 2003, the vast majority of them in Asia.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has had more bird

flu deaths than any other country this year.

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