69th human case in Indonesia
October 6th, 2006
A 21 year old woman living in the Tulung Agung district of East Java has become Indonesia’s 69th case of human infection with the avian influenza H5N1 virus. The announcement was made on Thursday by the director of Animal Disease and Health Control, Nyoman Kandunsaid. The woman has presented flu like symptoms since September 19th and was hospitalized 6 days later. It is believed that her contacts with diseased fowls led to the infection. Furthermore, she is the sister of another confirmed case of bird flu, as an 11 year old boy from the same family fell ill and eventually died on September 18th. 52 out of the 68 cases recorded in Indonesia so far have been deadly, making this the world’s hardest hit country by the disease.