# 2462
Almost unnoticed amid the flurry of news reports announcing the death of the 15-year-old girl named Dewi Sartika (hat tip Dutchy via Crof) from the bird flu virus comes this denial by Indonesia's Health Minister Supari.
Earlier this year the Health Minister, who continues to battle the WHO over the release of virus samples, declared that Indonesia would no longer announce human cases of H5N1 infection as they occur.
Her department, she said, would release updated totals `every few months'.
While she blames `foreign reports' for erroneously reporting that the girl tested positive twice, these reports have been widely carried by Indonesian media as well.
This denial, for whatever it's worth, comes from Xinhua News.
Indonesia denies new case of bird flu death
www.chinaview.cn
2008-11-13 13:58:37
JAKARTA, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian Health Ministry on Thursday denied foreign reports that a 15-year-old girl from Central Java had died of avian influenza, saying two laboratory tests had showed her blood samples negative of H5N1.
The girl died on Friday in Karyadi Hospital in Semarang city, 250 miles east of Jakarta after 10 days of medical treatment.
Denying several foreign reports that the girl had been confirmed dead of bird flu, Health Minister Siti Padilah Sufari said: "Both of the laboratory tests showed that she was negative of bird flu, so the total death toll (of bird flu) remains 112."
A total of 137 people had been infected by bird flu in Indonesia, making the country hardest hit by the deadly virus. The avian influenza has killed so far 244 people in the world.
Indonesia has been striving to diminish the factors that facilitate the spread of the bird flu virus, including big territory, traditional way of rising chickens on back yard and lack of obedience of provincial administration in implementing Jakarta's relevant decisions.
Editor: Deng Shasha
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