Indonesian death toll reaches 43
August 8th, 2006
The Indonesian teenager being treated for bird flu in the Sulianto Saroso hospital has died on Monday. Confirmation of preliminary tests to show the infection was indeed caused by the H5N1 virus is expected and could bring the country’s death toll to 43, the highest recorded by any nation so far. The boy’s name has not been released. He was admitted to hospital on Saturday and his condition rapidly deteriorated. The virus apparently spread after he had contact with sick chickens from his home, east of the capital city of Jakarta. This puts Indonesia at the top of the victims list in the world, narrowly topping Vietnam, country which has, however, used an aggressive campaign against bird flu and has not recorded any human cases this year. Indonesia has a poultry population of hundreds of millions and there are fears the virus will be very difficult to contain.