Indonesia reports H5N1 case in 3-year-old

Oct 30, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – A 3-year-old Indonesian boy hospitalized in Jakarta has H5N1 avian influenza, the country's health ministry announced yesterday.

Nyoman Kandun, director of disease control for Indonesia's health ministry, said two laboratory tests confirmed that the boy has the H5N1 virus, according to a report from Xinhua, China's state news agency. A Reuters report yesterday said the boy's symptoms were minor.

If the boy's illness is confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO), it will be recorded as Indonesia's 111th case.

The boy is from Tangerang, just west of Jakarta, and lives in the same neighborhood as a 5-year-old girl who died of an H5N1 infection on Oct 22, Reuters reported. Kandun told Xinhua there were no family links between the two children. Another recent case-patient in Indonesia, a 12-year-old boy who died Oct 13, also was from Tangerang.

Chicken deaths were reported near the homes of the 3-year-old and the 5-year-old, the Reuters report said. Kandun said the boy had a history of contact with dead birds at his home, according to Xinhua.

Suharda Ningrum, a spokesperson from the health ministry's avian flu center, told Xinhua that the boy got sick on Oct 22 and was hospitalized 5 days later.

Indonesia has the most H5N1 cases and deaths of any country—111 and 89, respectively. The WHO's global H5N1 count for now (excluding the 3-year-old) stands at 332 cases and 204 deaths.

See also:

Oct 25 WHO statement about case in 5-year-old Indonesian girl
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_10_25/en/index.html