Indonesian girl contracts bird flu, possibly from relative

A fifteen-year-old Indonesian girl from West Jakarta has been infected by avian influenza, bringing the total cases to 127 with 103 of them fatal, Indonesian health ministry said Tuesday. The girl was a daughter of a 38-year-old woman who previously infected by the disease. The woman first developed the symptoms of the disease on 23 January, the spokesperson of the ministry Lily Sriwahyuni Sulistyowati said. The girl was now in critical condition at a hospital, said Sulistyowati. “Both of her laboratory tests showed today that the girl is positive on bird flu,” she told Xinhua. The spokesperson said it was not clear yet whether the girl had contacts with fowls. “Investigations into the source of her infection are ongoing. However, she was exposed to her sick mother on 27-28 January and spent time in a neighborhood where chickens and other birds were found,” said Sulistyowati. “Samples from these birds have been taken and are undergoing tests to determine whether they may have been the source of infection,” she said.

Contact with fowls has been the common source of the infection of the disease in Indonesia. The spokesperson said the girl first showed the symptoms of the H5N1 virus on 2 February and then she was hospitalized on Friday. Indonesia has grappled with major problem on its effort to stop the spread of the virus spread, including huge territory, traditional way of raising chickens on backyard and lack of obedience of provincial administration in implementing the Jakarta decision to stop the virus spread.