# 291
The situation in Indonesia is, as of this writing, unclear. The mainstream western media has largely ignored what is going on there, and we are relying on local news reports, often machine translated from the Indonesian language. These translations are often difficult to decipher, and can sometimes lead us astray.
Still, they are the only window we currently have as to what is going on in this archipelago nation.
We know, from official sources, that there are two positive H5N1 bird flu cases in Jakarta, a city of more than 8 million people. Additionally, 5 close contacts of one of these victims, a 14 year-old boy who died earlier today, are hospitalized with `flu-like symptoms' and are being tested and treated with Tamiflu.
We are also seeing media reports of concerns in the city of Bogor, to the south of Jakarta, that there is an outbreak of `flu-like symptoms' following the deaths of poultry. As this is regular flu season, this may mean nothing, but the citizens there are concerned.
The following is a machine translation of a newspaper article that appeared yesterday. Once again, a tip of the hat to Dutchie over at CE for finding this.
People are worried because of flu like illness in relation to dead chickens.
On Tuesday, January 09 2007 21:08 WIB
JABOTABEK » BogorBetween 10 and 20 Bogor inhabitants were sick similar to Bird Flu
Bogor -- MIOL: Between 10 and 20 residents in the Village of Blok Asem, the Sukaresmi District, the Sareal Land Subdistrict, the Bogor City, suffered was sick that his sign was similar to bird flu.
Ironically, till Tuesday (9/1), they were not yet handled seriously by the local health service.
Already three today, the resident of the Village of the acid Bloc, RT 3/RW2, restless resulting from the death of dozens of tails of the chicken suddenly dilokasi this.
Moreover up to now, the chicken belonging to the resident still there are those that died.
Idris, 30, the local resident had claimed to be his 15 kept chickens since Idul Adha till Tuesday, died suddenly.
The death of his chickens, did not show the sign was sick beforehand.
Concerned if spreading the illness, Idris at once burnt his chicken carcass.
The chairman RT 3, Muhtar, 40 said from the report that acceptance, there were 66 chickens that died belonging to several of his residents.as many as 11 residents that generally children suffered the high fever was accompanied breathless was similar to the sign of bird.
The resident's concern increasingly improved, after being found had
When the translated text reads The resident's concern increasingly improved, this should be taken as the resident's concerns increased.
Further down in the article it states:
Up to now the resident that terjangkit the illness was similar to this bird flu was not yet handled intensively in the hospital.
They still was in his house was their respective, because of the lack of the medical treatment cost.
In fact this case has been reported to the local district side.
In the meantime, when it was confirmed this problem, the Head of Sector the Prevention of the Eradication of the Illness and the Health of the Environment (P3KL) the Health Service of the Bogor City, Sri Pinantari Hanum said did not yet receive the report and immediately will do the checking.
Convoluted though it may be, this translation appears to indicate that residents have tried to get medical care for those stricken with `flu-like symptoms' but have been unable to, due to the cost. Local officials deny they were informed of the problem, but are now investigating.
The sad truth is, in Indonesia, routine health care is not always easy to get. The government has pledged immediate free health care for any suspected bird flu patients, but those that suffer from Dengue, or pneumonia, or other illnesses, and have no money, aren't always as lucky.
It is always possible that residents are claiming sick and dying poultry in the area as a way to get free medical care for something other than bird flu. That, up until now, has been the litmus test for whether the government considers a `flu-like' illness to be possibly bird flu.
It will likely be a few days before we know if this is anything more than a routine outbreak of seasonal flu or some other non-bird flu illness. It should be noted that Bogor has also reported an outbreak of Dengue fever in the vicinity, and the symptoms are similar to bird flu.
Meanwhile, according to a report posted by Influenza2 on the new fluwiki, Metro TV News in Jakarta is reporting the following:
Metrotvnews.com, Jakarta:
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari guaranteed cluster or the group that was infected by the virus H5N1 or the bird flu virus will not happen again in Indonesia.
According to him, Cluster that was highest was reached in October 2006.
Menkes also explained the bird flu virus that currently is suffered by two patients the Friendship Hospital, Jakarta East.
According to him, that was caused because of the change factor in the season and the environment that were not yet conducive.
This report is interesting on a couple of fronts. First, it appears to be a guarantee that no new clusters would appear in Indonesia. Perhaps this is a bad translation. It is hard to imagine that any official would make such a statement.
Second, the reference to the Cluster that was highest was reached in October 2006. Those that have been following the reports of human cases of bird flu in Indonesia are a bit mystified by this one. While there were reports of `suspected' cases in October of 2006, there were very few confirmed cases. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), Indonesia only reported 3 cases in October.
Is this some vague reference to the St. Carolus mystery deaths I blogged about yesterday here? Or are there other cases that never made the news? Or once again, is this a bad translation?
Of course, there may be less here than meets the eye. Local news reports often get the facts wrong, and we can't place too much reliance on them. But for now, they are the only game in town.
For now, all we can do is watch, and wait. The newshounds on the flu forums are doing an impressive job searching out and translating these news articles. Their contribution to our understanding of what is going on cannot be overstated.
A tip of the hat to all of them, that work so hard, and do it literally 24 hours a day.
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