# 1114
Five hours ago, the AP ran this story stating that this patient had been confirmed as having the H5N1 virus, but was `recovering'.
Sep 6, 12:57 AM EDT
Indonesian man with bird flu recovering, Health Ministry says
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- An Indonesian man hospitalized with bird flu after cooking infected chicken was recovering Thursday, the Health Ministry said.
A couple of hours later, this comes across the wire.
Indonesia reports 85th bird flu death
Posted: 06 September 2007 1650 hrsJAKARTA: A 33-year-old male plantation worker from Indonesia's Sumatra island died of bird flu on Thursday, bringing the death toll in the world's worst-affected nation to 85, health officials said.
"He died at 2:00 pm," the doctor treating the victim at the state general hospital in the city of Pekanbaru, Azizman Daad, told AFP.
An official from the health ministry's bird flu information centre had earlier confirmed that the man was infected with the deadly H5N1 virus, after two tests came back positive. - AFP/a
Obviously sad news, particularly to the friends and family of the victim. The `official' death toll in Indonesia from virus now stands at 85. The true number of lives claimed by this virus . . . well that number will likely never be known.
As to how the AP could be reporting the patient is `recovering', while at the same time other news agencies had him in `critical condition' . . . that's a bit harder to fathom.
The AP report cites the Indonesian Health Ministry as their source, and that Agency has been known to `spin' the facts to their advantage in the past. Or perhaps this was a translation error of some sort. Or maybe the reporter simply screwed up.
It's hard to know from half a world away.
But this does illustrate that even reports from reputable news agencies, and announcements from government agencies, must often be taken with a grain of salt.
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