Another death in Indonesia from bird flu and thousands more birds culled

May 25 2007

Another death has been reported in Indonesia from bird flu along with another reported case in Vietnam.

A 5-year-old girl from Central Java province died last week following the deaths of around 20 chickens near her village home and authorities are investigating the case.

Her death takes the death toll in the country from the deadly virus to 77.

The latest case in Vietnam is the first since late 2005 and the victim, a 30-year-old man from Vinh Phuc province near the capital Hanoi, remains in a serious condition.

Hans Troedsson, the WHO's representative in Vietnam says tests have still to confirm the virus but the man developed a fever and had difficulty breathing after he helped slaughter chickens at a friend's wedding some weeks ago.

News of the case comes shortly after Vietnam reported that bird flu had killed nearly 1,900 ducks on farms across the country in the past week.

In Pakistan authorities have also reported thousands of chickens have been culled at three poultry farms, while in Bangladesh authorities there are also battling to control numerous outbreaks of the virus and have culled 144,785 chickens on farms in 11 districts; no human cases have as yet been reported.

Ghana too has reported a second bird flu outbreak in the centre of the country, which is nowhere near the first case which was detected three weeks ago.

To date almost all human cases of the virus have resulted from direct contact with infected birds but the worry is that the virus will ultimately mutate, as they do, and become easily transferred between humans; this could trigger a pandemic with the potential to kill millions.

According to the WHO at least 185 people have died of bird flu since the H5N1 virus reappeared in Southeast Asia in 2003; the deadly virus has spread throughout much of Asia, parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Scientists now believe the H5N1 virus has become more resilient and able to stay alive longer in higher temperatures and in moist conditions, which could mean the it poses a risk all year round rather than on a seasonal basis.

They are also concerned about the virus's persistence and ability to adapt to new environments and hosts.

Developing nations, led by Indonesia have been calling for guarantees of access to affordable vaccines in return for sharing influenza virus samples, which are used to develop commercial vaccines.

The WHO says sharing samples is vital in order to evaluate if viruses have mutated, become drug resistant or grown more transmissible and the agency has agreed to look at revamping its 50-year-old system for sharing influenza virus samples.

David Heymann, a senior WHO's bird flu official says a mechanism has been established to develop the best ways for virus sharing to ensure there is a fair and equitable distribution of pandemic influenza vaccines at affordable prices.

As it is the WHO expects there to be a shortage of vaccines in the event of a pandemic for at least another five years,as manufacturers are currently only able to produce 1.5 billion doses when at least 6.2 billion will be needed.

This means in fact that the world is not prepared for a pandemic should it occur in the near future, as there is not enough vaccine.

To date Indonesia has the highest death toll from the disease.