Indonesia says 2 more

[gardnmom]

Indonesia says 2 more avian flu cases confirmed

 

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/i...5indonesia.html

Dec 22, 2005 (CIDRAP News) – Indonesia's human death toll from H5N1 avian influenza rose to 11 today with the report that tests have confirmed that a man and a boy who died last week had the virus.

Samples from a 39-year-old man and an 8-year-old boy tested positive at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Hariyadi Wibisono of the Indonesian health ministry, as quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) today. The CDC tests confirmed earlier test results in Indonesia.

Their cases are the 15th and 16th reported as confirmed in Indonesia. The World Health Organization (WHO) had not yet included the cases in its online tally at this writing. The WHO's overall count currently stands at 139 cases with 71 deaths in the past 2 years.

The two victims lived in different sections of Jakarta, according to a Bloomberg News report today. The man died Dec 13, and the boy died Dec 15, according to AFP.

The Bloomberg report said the man had had no known contact with sick birds before he died, while the boy lived not far from a market where pet birds are sold.

The story said community groups, soldiers, and student volunteers began a door-to-door campaign in Jakarta today to find and destroy sick birds in houses and backyards.

 

 

[Mother]

Thanks for the update Lois. The thought crosses my mind to wonder how soon the sick birds will turn up in North America and start infecting our poultry here. I would think that would be a much more likely first step here than the human to human contact just as it is in other countries.

 

My son tells me that the people in Thailand do not seem unduly concerned about the avian flu and that no one he knows stockpiles anything, including him. It was one of the problems with the tsunami. Because of their way of eating they shop daily, or in the case of outlying areas forage daily, for fresh foods and the most prevalant storage food is probably rice. I've encouraged him to be better prepared. Hopefully he will.

 

It's pretty daunting that no one but a few officials, and those of us already preparing for any eventuality, seem concerned with the possibilities of a pandemic. It will make the situation that much more desperate when it does hit.

 

 

[gardnmom]

Unfortunately many Asian Countries have a fatalistic attitude about disease. They do not believe they can do anything about it, they are so poor that destroying their food supply is just as deadly as the flu.

You are right Mother, the scientists are afraid that there will be many deaths due to the lack of preparation both by the authorities in our communities and individual families. When things begin to break down they are saying we will see a breakdown in society much like we saw in New Orleans, maybe worse. If the water stops flowing, and the shelves are bare, it could be beyond our imagination. I have passed on the fact that the Fed Gov. has prepared suggestions for companies if they are interested in checking them out. Not much more one person can do.

[Mother]

I read the info on companies being more prepared for a possible pandemic. I've talked to several small business owners in our local area and they all say they would have to close their doors if that happened but that it won't. No one I talked with even knew that the Federal Government even HAD a preparedness site. They remembered seeing some advertisement about it when the terrorist threats were high but that's all. I believe it's time for the Goverment to start spending some of our tax payer money on the info again.