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Getting any flu news out of Indonesia has been difficult for nearly a week. The flooding there has not only taken over as the big story, it has hampered the ability news gatherers to do their jobs. The central lab that processes blood samples has reportedly been without power for at least part of this time.
We're receiving word of outbreaks of new diseases carried by the flood waters, and that hospitals and relief organizations are severely taxed as the flood waters begin to recede.
In short, it's been a mess.
Details are understandably sketchy then as we receive the first reports of yet another fatality from the H5N1 virus. This time, a 20 year-old woman who is reported to have died early on Sunday. This from Xinhua News.
Indonesian woman dies of bird flu, bringing toll to 64
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-02-11 15:48A 20-year-old woman died of bird flu early Sunday, bringing the number of people killed by the virus in hardest-hit Indonesia to 64, health and hospital officials said.
The victim had a history of contact with sick chickens, said Nyoman Kandun of the health ministry.
"She died early Sunday," said Yogi Prayogi, a spokesman at Garut Hospital in West Java province, adding that two of the woman's neighbors also were hospitalized with symptoms of the disease.
The H5N1 virus has prompted the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia since late 2003, and has caused the deaths of 167 people worldwide, including Indonesia's latest victim, according to the World Health Organization.
Most people killed so far have been infected by domestic fowl and the virus remains very hard for humans to catch. But experts fear it could mutate into a form that easily spreads among humans, sparking a pandemic with the potential to kill millions.
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