March 25, 2008

Indonesia estimates losses from bird flu at US$450 million

Indonesia has suffered an estimated US$450 million in economic losses since its first case of bird flu in poultry in 2004, the country's bird flu committee said Monday (March 24, 2008) .

The numbers of chickens killed by bird flu has been rising and the government, along with the agri-sector, has had to spend more and more money to control the disease, said Bayu Krisnamurthi, executive director of the National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness.

''For the four years from 2004 to 2007, estimated losses totaled 4.1 trillion rupiah (about US$450 million), not including the loss of job opportunities and the drop in protein consumption by the public,'' he said.

In Indonesia, he said, the fatality rate for bird flu in humans is 81.4 percent with an average of three people being killed by the virus every month.

Of the country's 33 provinces, Jakarta topped the list with 32 deaths, followed by West Java with 31 deaths and Banten, near Jakarta, with 25 deaths, the official said.

Bird flu had infected at least 373 people in 14 countries since December 2003, according to the WHO.

Indonesia has the largest number of deaths from bird flu, with 105 people killed by the disease. The is followed by Vietnam with 52 and China and Egypt with 20 each.