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Indonesian doctor with suspected bird flu ‘improving’

JAKARTA (AFP) - An Indonesian doctor who fell ill after treating patients suffering from the deadly bird flu virus was improving, a fellow doctor said Friday.
The 29-year-old doctor was hospitalised on Thursday after developing symptoms similar to bird flu, raising concerns of human-to-human transfer of the deadly virus.

“His condition is improving, his fever is down and x-ray results came back good,” said Hadi Yusuf, a doctor who treats patients with the virus at the Hasan Sadikin hospital in West Java.

However the sick doctor, identified only by one of his initials S, will remain in isolation at the hospital until the results of tests were known.

The tests have been sent to the Ministry of Health’s laboratory in Jakarta.

Samples are usually taken on the first, third and seventh day after a patient is hospitalised to determine if they have bird flu.

There are currently four other patients suspected of contracting the virus in isolation at the same hospital, including two children aged four and six.

Bird flu story source: AFP

Hello to JohnT. who posted the March 31 story about the Indonesian doctor thought to have contracted H5N1 from patients. 

Do you know if that was confirmed?  And if so has he recovered?

Also if so, does anyone know if this represents the first Human to Human transmission? 

Thanks, Loren

Information from that part of the world is very slow in coming. I have asked to be notified if any new developments happen, but so far have heard nothing.

My guess is that the problems Indonesia was having with sharing any of it’s information with WHO(World Health Organization), might have had something to do with it.

I will check again and see if I come up with anything else.

Thanks John,

While I’m speculating here, it appears that given the course of the pathogen that either that doctor would have recovered or succumbed very soon or by now.  Analyzing on assumption that the govt./ press over there is in bed with Baxter, it seems that if the Doctor TESTED NEGATIVE that there is nothing to be gained by witholding that other than a deceitfully cynical ploy to later claim he tested positive and was “cured” by a Baxter product.  While corporate ethics are always a point of question, such a ploy would only have survivability if they indeed already had a proven product, otherwise they end up caught in any such deceit.  Therefore lack of confirmation one way or another is more suggestive that the Doctor indeed tested positive.

Further if the Doctor has TESTED POSITIVE and recovered, there is also no purpose served by witholding such information other than again for “product propaganda” use. Baxter takes an enormous reputational risk there, if they have no product.  The stonewalling of the WHO already makes them appear as an entity more concerned of their own standing than cooperating with the global community. 

Therefore if we don’t hear something within this week, as the Doctor’s outcome should be known one way or the other, the withholding of the fact would seem to suggest that the Doctor was both positve and has succumbed.  An ominous sign that hopefully the WHO will consider in an err towards caution.  Just my opinion.

Now assuming that the good doctor was positive for H5N1, would this be the first known human to human transmission?

Thanks Loren