Global tests confirm 24th bird flu death in Indonesia
International tests have confirmed a 24-year-old Indonesian man who died this month had bird flu, a Health Ministry official said on Wednesday, taking the country’s death toll from the virus to 24.
Indonesia has the second highest bird flu death toll of any country. But the government has resisted mass culling of birds, citing the expense and impracticality in a country where keeping a few chickens or ducks in the backyards is common.
“A 24-year-old who died on April 8, 2006, has been confirmed positive of bird flu. The confirmation came from Hong Kong on April 18,” the official at the ministry’s bird flu information centre told Reuters.
Local tests are not considered definitive and blood samples are sent to a World Health Organisation-affiliated laboratory in Hong Kong for confirmation.