Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

Indonesian woman dies of bird flu - health official
05 Nov 2007 05:15:51 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds details, background)

JAKARTA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - An Indonesian woman has died of bird flu, taking the country's death toll from the disease to 90, an official at the health ministry's bird flu centre said on Monday.

Suharda Ningrum said it was not yet clear whether the 30-year-old victim had been in contact with sick fowl, but chickens belonging to a neighbour had died suddenly. The woman lived in Tangerang, west of the capital Jakarta.

Contact with sick fowl is the most common way for humans to contract the H5N1 strain of the virus.

"Two tests were confirmed positive for bird flu. Her neighbour's chickens died suddenly but it is unclear whether she had direct contact with the dead fowl," said Ningrum, adding that the woman had died in Jakarta's Persahabatan hospital.

Indonesia, which has now had 112 confirmed cases of the disease in humans, has suffered more fatalities than any other country.

Bird flu is endemic in bird populations in most parts of Indonesia, where millions of backyard chickens live in close proximity with humans.

Including the latest case, there have been 205 deaths and 334 cases globally since 2003, according to World Health Organisation data.

Experts fear if an easy means of transmission from human to human develops, there might be a pandemic affecting millions.


AlertNet news is provided by

Email this article       Send comments

Topics

•  Health

MORE >>

Emergencies

•  Bird flu

MORE >>

Countries

Small country map
© 2004 Europa Technologies Ltd.
Reset map

•  Indonesia profile
· View map

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  Direct Relief Reaches Out to Partners in Caribbean Affected by Noel
DRI - USA

•  Biofuels and rise in the price of foodstuffs: Serious concerns over the availability of food stocks to respond to emergencies
AAH - UK

•  Afghanistan: on the frontline of health care
ICRC - Switzerland

•  Local nurse with Medical Teams International talks about 4 weeks in war-torn Uganda
Medical Teams International - USA

•  GPs are 'failing to look after migrants'
MDM - UK

MORE >>

Latest news

•  Indonesian woman dies of bird flu - health official

•  Indonesian woman dies of bird flu - health official

•  PRESS DIGEST-Indonesian General News - Nov 5

•  Most would pay higher bills to curb climate change-poll

•  Artery disease rises among US women, study shows

MORE >>

Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Mon Nov 5 05:16:10 2007