Posted 16 May 2006 @ 07:05
Updated 16 May 2006 @ 07:07
JAKARTA, 16 May 2006 - Bird flu was found in fowl in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua, evidence the lethal virus is moving closer to the South Pacific and Australia. The H5N1 strain of avian influenza earlier this month reached the province that borders Papua New Guinea, Laurence Gleeson, an official with the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, told reporters yesterday in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. The H5N1 virus has reappeared in Laos and may spread to Bangladesh, Gleeson said.
"As long as there is a lot of bird flu in Indonesia, then clearly it does remain somewhat of a source of disease for other countries in the area,'' said Gleeson, the Bangkok-based regional manager of the FAO's Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases. "If it arrives in Papua New Guinea then there are other nations in the South Pacific which would also be at risk.''
Infected poultry increase the risk of human infection and create opportunities for the virus to mutate into a pandemic form that may kill millions of people. Fatalities from H5N1 this year have almost matched 2005 levels as the virus spread to more than 30 countries on three continents.
The H5N1 virus has killed at least 115 of 208 people known to have been infected since late 2003, the World Health Organization said on May 12. It's infected at least 64 people this year, killing 39 of them. Representatives from the FAO, the WHO and Asia-Pacific governments are meeting this week in Jakarta to discuss food security, poverty and preparing for disasters, such as a possible flu pandemic.
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