Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) - An
18-year-old man thought to be infected with avian flu was in critical condition
at the Tangerang General Hospital as of Tuesday.
"The patient is still in isolation,"
hospital spokesman Achmad Muchlis said. "He is exhibiting the symptoms of
avian flu, but the team of doctors is still waiting for confirmation from
laboratory results."
The patient, a resident from Me-karsari
village in Tangerang regency, suffered from a high fever for six days after
which time he was taken to the private Sari Asih Hospital in Karawaci last
Wednesday, when he developed respiratory problems.
As his condition worsened, the hospital
transferred him to Tangerang General Hospital on Saturday.
According to the hospital's president
director, Mamahit, the family informed doctors that before the patient fell
sick, one of the ducks he had raised had died.
"Referring to the case history and the
symptoms he was suffering from, we treated him as a bird flu patient," he
told reporters.
A team from the Tangerang Health Agency
conducted a survey around the patient's neighborhood.
"We haven't as yet found any infected
fowl ... We also checked all [the patient's] family members and neighbors, but
none of them were sick," agency head Naniek Isnaeni said. "We are
still waiting for the patient's laboratory results to know what to do
next."
Within the part two weeks, there have been two
confirmed deaths from avian flu in Jakarta alone.
Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih
said Tuesday that health care facilities in Indonesia had sufficient capacity
to properly diagnose avian influenza; however, more efforts were needed to
expand the country's bird flu laboratory capacity, which would allow more
sensitive detection of the disease.
"We are conducting polymerase chain
reaction [PCR] swab tests on mucus taken from the nose and throat to detect
whether it contains the H5N1 virus. The test can produce results in quite a
short period of time, but we may need a further test involving virus sequencing
in order to get a more accurate result on whether a patient is positive for
H5N1. However, not all labs have these facilities," she said.
Lab testing is one of the areas of expertise
the government aims to develop in tackling the disease.
"We are improving 42 labs assigned as
diagnostic centers for avian influenza," said Endang.
Endang said cross-sector collaboration played
a key role in tackling the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. The Health
Ministry is collaborating with other institutions, including the agriculture
and trade ministries, to combat outbreaks.
The ministry has also distributed
anti-influenza drugs called Oseltamivir to health care facilities, including
both hospitals and community health centers, free of charge. "We have
sufficient stocks of Oseltamivir to last until next year," Endang said,
adding that the government had reserve stocks of more than 1.4 million
Oseltamivir tablets ready to distribute if needed.
Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the director general of
Disease Control and Environmental Health (P2PL), said that bird flu patients
undergoing Oseltamivir therapy would experience a higher chance of recovery compared
with those who did not.
"Eighty-eight people, or 47 per cent of
188 patients with bird flu infections, who received Oseltamivir therapy
recovered from the illness, while only 7 people, or 12 per cent of 56 patients,
who did not receive the therapy survived," he said, referring to a
research study conducted in six countries including Indonesia.
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