Another bird flu death, another suspected case

An Indonesian women has died of suspected bird flu, a hospital spokesman said today, adding that tests would be carried out to confirm the cause of death.

Dr. Ilham Patu said that “all the indications” were that Dian Rachma, 20, had contracted the virus. She died late yesterday in Jakarta’s infectious diseases hospital, where all suspected cases of bird flu in the capital are treated, he said.

Patu said Rachma lived close to a flock of backyard chickens that died suddenly and had a high fever and breathing difficulties when she died.

Tests would be carried out tomorrow to confirm the diagnosis, he said. Samples would also be sent to a Hong Kong laboratory for further tests.

Meanwhile, a nine-year-old Chinese boy diagnosed with a suspicious case of pneumonia in a bird flu infected area has been discharged from the hospital, the government said.

The boy, whose 12-year-old sister died after showing the same symptoms, was released from the Hunan Provincial Children’s Hospital after 25 days of treatment and quarantine, the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday.

He was “in bad condition with pathological changes detected on his lungs” when he was hospitalised, Xinhua said. His condition improved after three days, it said.

While the boy is “completely cured,” Xinhua said experts could not rule out that the H5N1 virus made him sick and China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention was conducting more blood tests.

The sister died on October 17 after developing a high fever. Both lived in Wantang, a village in Hunan where the government says 545 chickens and ducks died of bird flu. A 36-year-old teacher from the same village also fell ill but is said to be recovering.

China has not reported any human cases of the deadly H5N1 strain, which has killed at least 64 people in Asia since 2003. Most had come into contact with infected birds.

Health experts have warned that the virus could mutate into one that can easily be passed between people, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.

Chinese health authorities were also testing an ill poultry worker in Liaoning province in the northeast, which has reported four bird flu outbreaks in poultry.

The woman was hospitalised with a 39 degree (102 degree F) fever, news reports said.

She was among 121 people who fell ill in Liaoning’s Heishan County with fevers and flu-like symptoms this week, Xinhua has said. The other 120 patients have been cleared of having bird flu.

Millions of chickens, ducks and other poultry in Liaoning and health officials warned that counterfeit vaccines sold in the province might have left flocks susceptible.