July 22, 2004

Indonesia Says New Bird Flu Cases Under Control

Indonesia's agriculture ministry said new cases of bird flu in East Java province were under control.

Ministry spokesman Hari Priono said: "In June, we had new cases in Tulung Agung in East Java province killing 1,760 chickens. However, there were no fresh cases from the other provinces in the country."

He said the case in East Java and recent outbreaks in Thailand, China and Vietnam had prompted the government to distribute more than 300 million doses of vaccine across Indonesia to keep the virus from spreading.

"The situation is under control through nine strategic methods," said Priono. He did not elaborate.

Hans Wagner of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation in Bangkok said 14 of Indonesia's 32 provinces have been hit by the disease this year.

"We have seen a slight geographical expansion of the disease, but it is not as dramatic as it was months ago," Wagner said. "This shows that there is still work to be done in controlling animal movements. We believe that is the factor for the continuous spread of the disease."

Indonesia joins Vietnam, China and Thailand, which have also seen a resurgence of bird flu in the past month.

Earlier this year, the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu swept through Asia, ravaging the poultry industry and killing 24 people in Thailand and Vietnam.

More than 100 million chickens and ducks across the region were slaughtered to contain the disease's spread, including 10 million in Indonesia.