August 9, 2007

Several bird flu outbreaks in Jakarta unreported

Jakarta has been warned of the silent bird flu outbreak which killed 500,000 chickens in the last six months and health authorities were unaware of it, reports the English daily the Jakarta Post.

The shortage of field officers was the reason of unreported bird flu cases, the daily said.

Bird flu first occurred in the capital in 2003.

The government however insists it complies with World Health Organization standards on handling bird flu epidemics by vaccinating healthy poultry and culling infected chickens and birds within a one-km radius of affected farms.

Heru Setijanto, a veterinarian with the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, warned that the bird flu cases reported could be the tip of the iceberg, stating "chickens die everywhere¡­and are not always reported".

Apart from attacking chickens, bird flu has infected more than 100 people across Indonesia, with casualties topping 82, the highest in the world.