The Jakarta Post On Pandemic Preparedness

 


# 2325

 

 

 

This year we've seen a steep decline in the number of human bird flu infections reported out of Indonesia.   While we can argue over how accurate those numbers might be, we do know one thing: 

 

 

The virus is still endemic in that nation, and human infections are still occurring.  

 

 

The Jakarta Post today has an informative article today on the dangers of a pandemic. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 7:53 PM

 

Bird flu cases down, but pandemic looms

Erwida Maulia ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 09/24/2008 10:46 AM  |  National

 

Indonesia must continue preparing for a bird flu pandemic, despite reports suggesting declines in cases of bird-to-human and bird-to-bird infections, health officials said Tuesday.

 

Erna Tresnaningsih, the Health Ministry's director for animal-vector diseases, said the confirmed number of humans infected by the H5N1 virus in Indonesia this year was 20 as of August, with 17 fatalities.

 

This is a decline, she claimed, from 55 cases with 45 fatalities in 2006 and 42 cases with 37 fatalities in 2007.

 

 

<snip>

 

 

Despite the declining number of infections, Indonesia has to be alert to the possibility of a bird flu pandemic, which, once it breaks out, could infect up to 66 million people, the Health Ministry warned.

 

Emil Agustiono, deputy to the coordinating minister for people's welfare, said a bird flu pandemic was unpredictable, but could happen through either the breeding of the H5N1 avian influenza virus with the H3N2/H1N1 human influenza virus, or through the mutation of the H5N1 virus in the human body.

 

Both processes could produce a new type of deadly, transmittable human-to-human influenza virus, which could then lead to a new influenza pandemic, he said.

 

(Continue . . .)

Related Post:

Widget by [ Iptek-4u ]