17 in hospital with suspected bird flu
Andi Hajramurni and Suherdjoko , The Jakarta Post , Makassar and Semarang | Fri, 11/14/2008 7:05 AM | Headlines
A South Sulawesi hospital was overwhelmed as it admitted in two days 17 patients believed to have bird flu, an official said Thursday.
The patients, mostly children, presented with symptoms of the disease, such as a high fever, cough and respiratory problems, spokesman for Wahidin Sudirohusodo General Hospital in Makassar, Andi Kurnia Bintang, said.
Kurnia said the first patient, 5-year-old Salman, was hospitalized Wednesday morning, followed in the evening by his siblings Nurul Awaliah, 3, and Nur Fadillah, four months old, and four neighbors.
He said the patients, all residents of Sudiang subdistrict in Biringkanaya district, Makassar, were brought to the hospital after suffering a high fever for about two days.
“According to Salman’s parents, 27 chickens belonging to their neighbors died on Nov. 7. In the two days after that, their four chickens also died,” he said.
Kurnia said the hospital had conducted urgent tests for the first seven patients, with the results indicating the presence of the H5N1 avian influenza virus.
The hospital is waiting for confirmation of the results from blood tests conducted by the Micro Laboratory of the Hasanuddin University Medical School and the Visual Conversion Reaction, he said.
He said the hospital had the other 10 patients admitted Thursday under observation while waiting for their test results.
“They showed symptoms of bird flu, such as a high fever and respiratory problems, but we are still waiting for the results of the rapid tests, thorax photos and blood tests,” the hospital’s emergency unit officer in charge Wasis Udaya said.
The hospital’s bird flu team held a meeting Thursday to help deal with the situation, as this is the first time they have received such a large number of bird flu patients.
The hospital, which had set aside 11 beds for bird flu patients, had to expand its facilities following the outbreak.
Head of the husbandry division of the Makassar Marine and Agriculture Office, Sulistiawati, said the results of tests conducted on the dead chickens in the area showed the birds were infected by the avian influenza virus.
“We have conducted rapid tests on the chickens and the results showed some of the chickens were positive (infected by the virus),” Sulistiawati said.
She said her office had culled 20 chickens and disinfected the birds’ cages in the subdistrict on Wednesday.
Her team plans to gather all chickens in the area, hoping residents will voluntarily hand over their birds for culling.
Meanwhile, dozens of birds in the neighborhood of DS, 15, who died of bird flu in Semarang, Central Java, last week were culled Thursday.
The culling was conducted in a field in the Medoho area in Gayamsari district.
Central Java has had 14 cases of bird flu in humans with 11 deaths since 2003.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/11/14/17-hospital-with-suspected-bird-flu.html 
