Jakarta - Two Indonesian females have died from bird
flu, raising the country's death toll from the H5N1 deadly disease to
110 - the world's highest, a Health Ministry official said Friday.
An 16-year-old girl died in South Jakarta on May 14, after exposure
to sick and dead poultry. A 34-year-old woman from Tangerang District
in Banten Province west of Jakarta died on June 3, said Sumardi, the
health ministry's spokesman.
Sumardi, who like many Indonesians goes only by one name, did not
provide further details.
The latest deaths brought Indonesia's human death toll to 110
among the 135 diagnosed human cases of H5N1, the strain of bird
flu that can be deadly in people.
Both figures are the highest in the world.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari refused to
say how many people had died of bird flu and insisted it was no
longer necessary to announce the toll on a case-by-case basis.
Indonesia has been criticised for its reluctance to share
information with international scientists battling the virus, without
in return being guaranteed access to vaccines that may be developed
abroad.
The most common way to contract the H5N1 virus is through human
contact with infected fowl. Bird flu remains mainly an animal
disease, but experts fear that the virus could mutate into a form
that could spread easily from human to human, sparking a pandemic
that could kill millions of people around the world.
Experts have warned that conditions in Indonesia hamper efforts to
eradicate the disease, such as highly decentralized administration,
under-resourced national veterinary services, lack of engagement with
commercial poultry producers, insufficient funding and poor health
education.
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