Indonesian man tests positive for bird flu (Reuters)
submited by 2366 at Dec, 12, 2007 18:18 PM from Yahoo News
Joko Suyono, an official at the health ministry's bird flucentre, said the 47-year-old man from Tangerang kept ducks athis home and had recently traveled to the cities of Medan inSumatra and Pandeglang in West Java.
"Two tests have confirmed that he suffered from H5N1 andthe agriculture ministry has taken samples from the ducks andis still investigating where he may have contracted the virus,"Suyono said.
Contact with sick fowl is the most common way ofcontracting bird flu, which is endemic in bird populations inmost part of Indonesia.
Mukhtar Ikhsan, an official at Jakarta's Persahabatanhospital, said the man was being treated in an emergency unitand was on a respirator.
On Monday, a 28-year-old woman, who also came fromTangerang, died of bird flu after being treated at the samehospital.
Indonesia has had 115 confirmed human cases of bird flu andsuffered 92 human deaths, the highest number globally.
Although bird flu remains mostly an animal disease, expertsfear that the virus could mutate into a form easily passed fromperson to person and kill millions.
(Reporting by Mita Valina Liem; editing by Ed Davies andAlex Richardson)
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