Indonesia 'needs bird flu help'

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Indonesia 'needs bird flu help'

Indonesia needs more help to rein in the bird flu virus, the UN's Food

and Agriculture Organisation has said.

The human death toll from bird flu in the country rose to 100 earlier

this year - almost half of the total worldwide fatalities.

The FAO's chief veterinary expressed concerns that failure to tackle

the disease could lead the virus to mutate and cause a " human

influenza pandemic " .

Most of those infected are thought to have caught the disease from

poultry.

" The human mortality rate from bird flu in Indonesia is the highest in

the world and there will be more human cases if we do not focus more

on containing the disease at source in animals, " said FAO Chief

Veterinary Officer ph Domenech in a statement on Tuesday.

" The avian influenza situation in Indonesia is grave - all

international partners and national authorities need to step up their

efforts for halting the spread of the disease in animals and making

the fight against the virus a top priority. "

Mr Domenech also expressed concerns about a possible mutation of the

virus which could be easily passed from human to human.

" Furthermore, I am deeply concerned that the high level of virus

circulation in birds in the country could create conditions for the

virus to mutate and to finally cause a human influenza pandemic, " he said.

Endemic

Surveillance and response teams are working in 193 out of 448

districts in Indonesia, yet birds in 31 out of 33 provinces are

affected, Mr Domenech said.

The virus is endemic in Java, Sumatra, Bali and southern Sulawesi with

sporadic outbreaks reported from other areas, the FAO said.

By June 2008, more than 2,000 surveillance and response teams will be

active in more than 300 districts in areas of the country where the

disease is endemic, Mr Domenech said.

But that may not be enough.

" Indonesia is facing an uphill battle against a virus that is

difficult to contain. Major human and financial resources, stronger

political commitment and strengthened co-ordination between the

central, provincial and district authorities are required to improve

surveillance and control measures, " Mr Domenech said.

Since the first outbreaks in 2003, bird flu has spread rapidly across

Java into Bali, Kalimantan and Sumatra. In 2006, the virus spread

further east infecting Papua and much of Sulawesi.

Since the H5N1 virus emerged in South East Asia in late 2003, it has

claimed more than 220 lives around the world.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7304557.stm