Bird flu kills Indonesian man, country death toll rises to 112
05-AUG-2008 Intellasia | DPA
Aug 5, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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A 19-year-old Indonesian man died from bird flu, raising the country's world-leading death toll from the H5N1 virus to 112, a health ministry official confirmed on Sunday.
The man from Tangerang district of West Java's Banten province near Jakarta, died Thursday, said I Nyoman Kandun, the director general of communicable disease control at the health ministry.
State-run Antara news agency reported the man was brought to the regional public hospital July 29, where he died two days later.
The latest victim became Indonesia's 112th fatality among the 137 diagnosed human cases of H5N1. Both figures are the highest in the world.
The most common way to contract the virus is through human contact with infected fowl. Bird flu remains chiefly an animal disease, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that could transmit between humans and spark a pandemic that could kill millions around the world.
Experts warned that conditions in Indonesia including a highly decentralised administration, under-resourced national veterinary services, lack of engagement with commercial poultry producers, insufficient financial and human resources and a difficulty in informing people of the dangers of the disease were hampering efforts to eradicate it.
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