Jakarta announces another death from bird flu

Jakarta - Indonesia confirmed another person had died of bird flu as the nation hardest-hit by H5N1 continues to battle a disease that experts fear could one day spark a global pandemic.

Indonesia's 47th fatality from the virus was a woman called Akira from South Sulawesi province, said Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari, adding that infected birds had been found dead in the same area.

"This we know from the results of the (tests by the) Health Ministry's Research and Development Board last night (Wednesday)," Supari told journalists.

"We did not send (the samples) to the WHO (World Health Organisation) because our positive results are usually positive results at the WHO," she added.

Up until now, Indonesia has always sent blood and tissue samples from suspected human bird flu cases to a WHO laboratory in Hong Kong for confirmation.

Sari Setiogi, the WHO spokesperson in Indonesia, said that under a new arrangement Jakarta could confirm infections after two local tests showed the person to have contracted H5N1.

Supari gave no further details other than that the latest bird flu case had been first discovered on June 24.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, is grappling with ongoing outbreaks of H5N1, which has infected 61 people to date, 47 of them with fatal consequences.

The minister said that they would soon carry out poultry culling in the area where the case was found.

"We will soon do "stamping out", because they found dead birds in the area," Supari said.

While the virus does not spread easily among people, the chance of a mutation occurring which will allow it to do so is heightened as more humans catch it from infected birds.

Scientists fear that if this occurs, a global flu pandemic with a massive death toll could result.

Indonesia has been criticised for its slowness in stamping out the virus at its source - among poultry. But the government has said that it was facing difficulties in funds to conduct cullings and pay compensation to poultry owners.

It said last month that approximately 30 million homes keep chickens in their backyards and in some instances, many refused to turn in their birds despite offers of compensation. - Sapa-AFP