June 1, 2006

Indonesia culls poultry in west Java area hit by bird flu

Officials began slaughtering poultry Thursday (Jun 1) in an Indonesian village where preliminary tests showed a 15-year-old boy had died from bird flu.

All chickens would be culled within one kilometre of the boy's house in the Tasikmalaya district of West Java province, said Budi Utama, head of the local animal and fisheries agency.

Indonesian tests Wednesday found the boy had contracted the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus, and officials were awaiting confirmation from a World Health Organization-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong.

At least 36 people have died in Indonesia from bird flu, out of a total world toll of 127, WHO says. The country averaged one human bird flu death every 2 1/2 days in May, putting it on pace to soon become the world's hardest-hit country, surpassing Vietnam's 42 deaths.

The boy's death is the third in the province from the H5N1 virus since last week. A 10-year-old girl and her 18-year-old brother earlier died within hours of each other in another village.

Scientists suspect human-to-human transmission has also occurred in a few other smaller family clusters, all involving blood relatives. Experts theorise that could indicate that some people have a genetic susceptibility to the disease.

Bird flu remains hard for people to catch, and most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds. Experts fear the virus could mutate into a highly contagious form that passes easily among people, possible sparking a pandemic. However, there is no sign that the virus has changed.