JawaPos.com – A case of H5N1 or bird flu has claimed the life of a child in Cambodia. In Indonesia, a similar disease appeared in South Kalimantan. Therefore, the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) wrote to the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan). The goal, to coordinate if there are cases of mass death of poultry.
“We have issued a letter of cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that if there is an indication of significant poultry mortality, we (the Ministry of Health) will have to coordinate it,” said Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin yesterday (28/2). Budi also just received a report that in Cambodia there has been transmission from poultry to humans. Not yet from human to human. He hoped that human-to-human transmission would not occur.
Budi stated that the case in South Kalimantan was being checked to see if it was true that it was a variant of bird flu. Because he believes there has been no human-to-human transmission, Budi continued, the government will investigate if there are mass poultry deaths.
Tjandra Yoga, former Director of WHO Communicable Diseases in Southeast Asia, explained on a different occasion that children in Cambodia who died of bird flu were known to have fathers who were also H5N1 positive.
In addition, it is known that there were 22 chickens and 3 ducks that died in the family’s home environment. “Also, there are 11 more people who are currently being examined about the possibility of infection,” he explained.
For domestic protection, Tjandra suggested several ways.
“First, strict surveillance on poultry and humans for early detection. For poultry, detection can be done in three places. Namely, the farm, the chicken market, and the home environment,” he said.
While detection in humans is carried out in symptomatic clusters. If there is suspicion of animal-to-human transmission, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture should join the investigation. (lyn/c7/oni)
