Bird flu: 30 birds reported infected in South Kalimantan, government asked to ‘act fast’ – ‘Otherwise, another outbreak like in 2005’

As well as the cases that have emerged from within the country, he also highlighted another threat from Cambodia’s bird flu outbreak after an 11-year-old girl in that country died and tested positive for the H5N1 virus.

Even though the H5N1 virus identified in Cambodia and South Kalimantan is a different variant, Ronny said the government still “must be aware of it”.

He urged the government not to repeat the same mistake as when cases of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in cattle failed to be prevented from entering Indonesia and have not been resolved to date.

Not to mention the economic losses that could “shake” farmers if the bird flu outbreak actually occurs when the economy has not fully recovered post-pandemic.

“The community will also lose cheap protein sources, because so far chicken and eggs have been one of them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated that his party was currently checking whether the variant found “is really bird flu”.

“If later it is true, what we have checked is the transmission is not from human to human, but from animals,” said Budi to journalists in Jakarta, Tuesday (28/02).

The Ministry of Health previously stated that it was “alert” about the occurrence of extraordinary events (KLB) related to this finding.

In addition, he also claims to have coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture to ascertain the cause of death for dozens of these birds in order to prevent the risk of transmission to humans.

The Food Security and Agriculture Service of Tanah Bumbu Regency, South Kalimantan, revealed that they had found 30 positive cases of Avian Influenza (AI) or bird flu in poultry.

“There were 80 birds we did a tracheal swab examination, laboratory results from these samples tested positive for bird flu as many as 30 birds,” said Head of Livestock and Animal Health Division of the Food Security and Agriculture Service of Tanah Bumbu Regency, Andrie Juniar Tenggara, quoted from Antara news agency.

But Andrie ensured that currently there are “no” reports of zoonoses or transmission from animals to humans or vice versa.

Last week, the Ministry of Agriculture also stated that it had identified a positive case of the H5N1 virus with clade 2.3.4.4b – which is considered a new variant – in a commercial Peking duck farm in South Kalimantan.

But so far it is not known where the source of the transmission is.

According to Ronny, the H5N1 virus with clade 2.3.4.4b is said to have been widely circulating in wild birds and detected in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America since October 2020.

In the Americas, clade 2.3.4.4b was detected for the first time in 2021 in wild birds and continues to spread in 49 countries and infects 58 million broiler chickens and chickens reared in large groups.

“So the discovery of clade 2.3.4.4b in South Kalimantan must be a serious concern and every new clade finding we must be aware of and we observe how far the level of spread and the pathogen is, especially in its transmission to poultry and wild birds and the increased risk of transmission to humans,” he said.

Ronny suspects that there are two possible sources of transmission of the new subvariant in Indonesia.

“First, conceded entry from outside Indonesia through the route of rats entering poultry, or from wild birds. So it needs to be examined more deeply regarding the source of the entry in order to be sure,” said Ronny.

Tracing the source of transmission is also said to be necessary as a basis for mitigation to prevent bird flu outbreaks in the future and prevent the risk of transmission to humans. However, he doubted it would ever be revealed.

“During the last bird flu outbreak, there is still no answer as to where exactly the transmission to humans came from. At that time, it was only an assumption that wild birds infect commercial poultry and infect humans, but there is no scientific evidence and it is still a mystery,” he said.

Even though they occurred in close time, the findings of the new subvariant identified in Kalimantan were different from those identified in Cambodia.

According to World Health Organization (WHO)the results of genetic sequencing carried out by the Cambodian authorities stated that the virus identified was H5N1 with the same clade 2.3.2.1c as circulating in the Southeast Asian region since 2014.

“Virus [clade 2.3.2.1c] It is also suspected to have caused sporadic infections in humans and reappeared in 2023 since it subsided in 2014,” said Ronny.

Although different, Ronny reminded the Indonesian government to remain vigilant.

“Because when it has infected people, it means that it describes the phenomenon of the iceberg of infection in poultry, which means there are already many,” he said.

Reflecting on the outbreak of bird flu in 2005, Ronny said that a mutation of the virus detected in a country in Asia has the potential to “spread quickly” to neighboring countries, especially if it is not taken seriously.

Even though Indonesia does not import poultry, he is worried that what has infected Cambodia can enter Indonesia through dark routes for sending birds that have the potential to also be infected without going through quarantine.

This will double the risk of bird flu outbreaks in Indonesia, in addition to the threat of a new subvariant that has been identified in South Kalimantan.

“[Virus] It spreads among wild animal populations, if it spreads again and mutations occur, the fatality will increase again,” said Ronny.

According to Ronny, the finding of cases of bird flu in poultry in South Kalimantan illustrates an “iceberg phenomenon” which indicates that there have been cases of death in poultry that were “not reported” before.

“That’s because many people don’t understand and dead birds are considered normal. In this precarious situation, every dead bird needs to be reported and examined,” said Ronny.

Professor of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Gadjah Mada University, R Wasito, said that basically bird flu cases have never disappeared in Indonesia since the outbreak and “there are still many cases”.

“Usually the symptom is a decrease in egg production,” he said.

But recently, he admitted that he started receiving complaints from breeders in various regions.

“A few days ago I went to the chicken farm and 90% of them were all sick, and even died 30 to 40 days. That’s a lot in Central Java, a lot of East Java, in Kalimantan too. I saw and examined the chickens myself,” said Wasito.

However, there have been cases of bird flu in humans with general symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose and shortness of breath.

According to WHO records, there were a total of 873 cases of A (H5N1) infection in humans from 2003 to 25 February 2023, 458 deaths from 21 countries in the world.

In Indonesia, data from the Ministry of Health shows that there were 200 cases of bird flu in humans from 2005 to 2018 with a mortality rate of 84% (168 cases).

WHO stated that the risk of infection in humans occurs sporadically every time a bird flu case spreads to poultry. It occurs as a result of human exposure to infected birds or contaminated environments.

Although according to the CDC, several infected human cases did not have a history of direct contact with poultry.

Meanwhile Wasito believes the H5N1 virus “cannot be transmitted directly from poultry to humans without an intermediary animal”.

But an outbreak of avian flu that has hit European farms of mammals such as minks and minks has experts worried that the risk of human-to-human transmission is growing.

Alvino Antonio from the National Poultry Farmers Community (KPUN) said he was worried about the findings of cases in South Kalimantan and Cambodia.

“Of course we are worried, but so far we are trying to improve biosecurity in livestock pens and environments, as well as limiting mobility,” said Alvino.

However, in the midst of this situation, he admitted that there had not been any socialization from the Ministry of Agriculture regarding the efforts being made.

He hopes the government can immediately mitigate this situation so that Indonesia does not experience an outbreak of bird flu.

“This government also doesn’t have socialization yet, so the government has to be honest and preventative, otherwise it’s troublesome and what arises is panic every time there is a case of dead chickens, even though it’s not necessarily due to bird flu,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ronny Rochman Noor warned of the potential for outbreaks of bird flu cases in small to medium-sized farms whose biosecurity standards are “not as stringent” as large farms.

When a cluster of transmission is found, he said the government must be prepared to take isolation steps up to stamping out (annihilation).

So far, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture are further investigating the findings of cases that occurred in South Kalimantan.

Director of Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, stated that he has asked health agencies to prepare health facilities to handle suspected cases of bird flu, as well as increase laboratory capacity to examine samples from cases with symptoms of suspected bird flu.

Health centers are also asked to immediately report findings of suspected cases of bird flu in less than 24 hours.

“People can also report to the livestock service if there are sudden deaths of large numbers of poultry in their environment,” said Maxi.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Livestock and Animal Health Nasrullah and Public Relations of the Ministry of Agriculture Nasrullah actually exchanged blows when contacted regarding the steps taken regarding the findings of this case.

Siti Fadilah Supari, who served as minister of health at that time, set the status of a national extraordinary event (KLB) for the outbreak of bird flu after a number of infected people died.

The epidemic at that time also caused many birds to die suddenly to the detriment of the breeders.