Health News
Bird-flu death brings Indonesia's human toll to 96
Jan 15, 2008, 12:36 GMT
Jakarta - The death Tuesday of a 16-year-old girl in Indonesia's capital Jakarta from the H5N1 virus has brought Indonesia's human death toll from bird flu to 96, which is the world's highest, Health Ministry officials said Tuesday.
The girl, identified only by her initials, YF, was from Bekasi municipality, just west of Jakarta, said Joko Suyono, an official at the ministry's bird-flu information centre.
The girl fell sick late last year and was treated at a nearby health clinic and hospital before finally being admitted to the Persahabatan Hospital in Jakarta with fever, respiratory problems and pneumonia, Suyono said.
'Test results confirm she had been suffering from bird flu,' Suyono said.
Investigators were still trying to determine how the girl was exposed to the virus.
Her death on Tuesday was Indonesia's 96th out of 118 diagnosed cases of H5N1, the strain of bird flu that can be deadly in humans. Both figures are the highest in the world.
Before the latest death in Indonesia, the World Health Organization had confirmed at least 216 deaths in 12 countries in Asia and Africa.
The most common way to contract the H5N1 virus is through contact with infected fowl. Although bird flu remains mainly an animal disease, experts said they fear the virus could mutate into a form that could spread easily from human to human, turning into a pandemic that could kill millions of people.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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