Tangerang-Avian flu threatens to claim additional life #H5N1 #BIRDFLU

 

Multa Fidrus and Elly Burhaini Faizal, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang/Jakarta | Wed, 01/25/2012 8:35

 

An 18-year-old man thought to be infected with avian flu was in critical condition at the Tangerang General Hospital as of Tuesday.

“The patient is still in isolation,” hospital spokesman Achmad Muchlis said. “He is exhibiting the symptoms of avian flu, but the team of doctors is still waiting for confirmation from laboratory results.”
The patient, a resident from Me-karsari village in Tangerang regency, suffered from a high fever for six days after which time he was taken to the private Sari Asih Hospital in Karawaci last Wednesday, when he developed respiratory problems.

As his condition worsened, the hospital transferred him to Tangerang General Hospital on Saturday.

According to the hospital’s president director, Mamahit, the family informed doctors that before the patient fell sick, one of the ducks he had raised had died.

“Referring to the case history and the symptoms he was suffering from, we treated him as a bird flu patient,” he told reporters.

A team from the Tangerang Health Agency conducted a survey around the patient’s neighborhood.

“We haven’t as yet found any infected fowl … We also checked all [the patient’s] family members and neighbors, but none of them were sick,” agency head Naniek Isnaeni said. “We are still waiting for the patient’s laboratory results to know what to do next.”

Within the part two weeks, there have been two confirmed deaths from avian flu in Jakarta alone.

Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said Tuesday that health care facilities in Indonesia had sufficient capacity to properly diagnose avian influenza; however, more efforts were needed to expand the country’s bird flu laboratory capacity, which would allow more sensitive detection of the disease.

“We are conducting polymerase chain reaction [PCR] swab tests on mucus taken from the nose and throat to detect whether it contains the H5N1 virus. The test can produce results in quite a short period of time, but we may need a further test involving virus sequencing in order to get a more accurate result on whether a patient is positive for H5N1. However, not all labs have these facilities,” she said.

Lab testing is one of the areas of expertise the government aims to develop in tackling the disease.

“We are improving 42 labs assigned as diagnostic centers for avian influenza,” said Endang.

Endang said cross-sector collaboration played a key role in tackling the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. The Health Ministry is collaborating with other institutions, including the agriculture and trade ministries, to combat outbreaks.

The ministry has also distributed anti-influenza drugs called Oseltamivir to health care facilities, including both hospitals and community health centers, free of charge. “We have sufficient stocks of Oseltamivir to last until next year,” Endang said, adding that the government had reserve stocks of more than 1.4 million Oseltamivir tablets ready to distribute if needed.
Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the director general of Disease Control and Environmental Health (P2PL), said that bird flu patients undergoing Oseltamivir therapy would experience a higher chance of recovery compared with those who did not.

“Eighty-eight people, or 47 percent of 188 patients with bird flu infections, who received Oseltamivir therapy recovered from the illness, while only 7 people, or 12 percent of 56 patients, who did not receive the therapy survived,” he said, referring to a research study conducted in six countries including Indonesia.  http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/01/25/avian-flu-threatens-claim-additional-life.html