JAKARTA, May 22: Local tests have confirmed two more people have died of bird flu in Indonesia, a senior health ministry official said today.
One of the victims belonged to a Sumatran family at the centre of fears of human-to-human transmission after six members of the family died this month of bird flu.
''One man from the same Sumatra cluster died this morning. He is the father of the child who died on May 13. He ran away after he received Tamiflu,'' said I Nyoman Kandun, director-general of communicable disease control at the health ministry.
''He was found in the village later but refused treatment,'' Kandun told reporters.
Local results on bird flu cases are not considered definitive and need confirmation from the World Health Organisation.
The WHO confirmed last week that six family members from Kubu Simbelang village in North Sumatra province were infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus.
Kandun said there was no evidence the H5N1 virus had mutated in the Kubu Simbelang cluster case, which has drawn global concern because officials have found no definitive source of the outbreak.
Most cases of human infection worldwide have been through contact with sick poultry or their droppings. Tests on poultry in the village were positive for the H5 subtype virus but more tests are need to confirm it they were infected with H5N1.
Tests on pigs have been positive for antibodies, suggesting they were recently infected with H5N1.
Kandun said a 38-year-old man from Jakarta who died last week had also been declared positive for bird flu by local tests.
The WHO has confirmed 32 fatalities from avian influenza in the world's fourth most populous nation, the second highest number of human deaths after Vietnam.
The virus has spread in birds at an alarming rate in recent months, sweeping through parts of Europe, down into Africa and across into South Asia.
It is difficult for humans to catch, but experts fear the virus could evolve into a form passes easily from human to human, causing a pandemic that could kill millions.
Reuters
One of the victims belonged to a Sumatran family at the centre of fears of human-to-human transmission after six members of the family died this month of bird flu.
''One man from the same Sumatra cluster died this morning. He is the father of the child who died on May 13. He ran away after he received Tamiflu,'' said I Nyoman Kandun, director-general of communicable disease control at the health ministry.
''He was found in the village later but refused treatment,'' Kandun told reporters.
Local results on bird flu cases are not considered definitive and need confirmation from the World Health Organisation.
The WHO confirmed last week that six family members from Kubu Simbelang village in North Sumatra province were infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus.
Kandun said there was no evidence the H5N1 virus had mutated in the Kubu Simbelang cluster case, which has drawn global concern because officials have found no definitive source of the outbreak.
Most cases of human infection worldwide have been through contact with sick poultry or their droppings. Tests on poultry in the village were positive for the H5 subtype virus but more tests are need to confirm it they were infected with H5N1.
Tests on pigs have been positive for antibodies, suggesting they were recently infected with H5N1.
Kandun said a 38-year-old man from Jakarta who died last week had also been declared positive for bird flu by local tests.
The WHO has confirmed 32 fatalities from avian influenza in the world's fourth most populous nation, the second highest number of human deaths after Vietnam.
The virus has spread in birds at an alarming rate in recent months, sweeping through parts of Europe, down into Africa and across into South Asia.
It is difficult for humans to catch, but experts fear the virus could evolve into a form passes easily from human to human, causing a pandemic that could kill millions.
Reuters
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