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The Balinese outbreak of H5N1 is getting a lot of play in the Australian press because Bali is a popular tourist destination for Australians. While the first 24 hours has served up a variety of news stories, not all in agreement as to the details, things appear to be settling down a bit.
According to this report from The West Australian, in addition to the mother and child who have died, 2 others are being tested. Results should be known on Wednesday.
Bird flu testing continues in Bali
14th August 2007, 16:16 WST
Test results due on Wednesday will show if two more Balinese villagers have fallen victim to the potentially deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.
A two-year-old girl with bird flu-like symptoms remains in a Bali hospital in a stable condition and appears to be improving, a spokeswoman at Indonesia's Ministry of Health said.
Test results expected on Wednesday will determine if she has the virus that killed her 29-year-old neighbour Ni Luh Putu Sri Windani on Sunday in the first confirmed fatal case of bird flu on the tourist island.
Windani's five-year-old daughter also died eleven days ago after suffering flu-like symptoms.
No samples are available for testing, but authorities say it's likely she also died from H5N1.
The dead woman's husband has also undergone tests, but is not in hospital, the spokeswoman said.
Any further confirmation of bird flu cases will be a blow to Bali's tourism industry, which is just now recovering from the terrorist bombings that shook the Indonesian island in 2002 and 2005.
Australian authorities are closely monitoring the situation in Bali, and travel advice warns of human deaths from bird flu.
Australia's Health Minister Tony Abbott said there was no reason to believe the virus had mutated into a form easily spread among humans.
"It is a disease of birds which is very hard for humans to catch," Abbott told ABC Radio.
"At the moment we have no reason to think that there is human to human transmission."
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