Jul 5, 2012
Indonesian girl dies from H5N1 infection
Indonesia's health ministry today announced the death of an 8-year-old girl from an H5N1 avian influenza infection, according to a report from the Jakarta Globe. The girl, from West Java province, got sick on Jun 18 during a trip to Singapore. Six days later her symptoms worsened and she was admitted to a Jakarta hospital with signs of pneumonia. She was transferred two more times and required treatment with a ventilator. A health ministry official told the Globe that she tested positive for the virus on Jun 29 and died on Jul 3. The official said she had often walked past a live-bird market on her way to school, and 6 days before she got sick she had helped carry freshly killed birds home from the market with her father. If the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms the girl's H5N1 illness and death, she will be listed as Indonesia's 190th case-patient and its 158th fatality from the disease.
WHO H5N1 case count
Hong Kong finds H5N1 in pet bird shop
Officials in Hong Kong have shuttered a pet bird shop after routine tests yielded the H5N1 avian flu virus, according to a statement today from Hong Kong's Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department (AFCD). The virus was found on a swab sample collected on Jun 25 from a cage holding an Oriental magpie robin. Authorities have transferred all of the shop's birds to an AFCD animal management center, where they will be destroyed. Authorities have also closed the Bird Garden, where the shop was located, for 21 days as a precaution. Officials have stepped up monitoring of birds and people in the area and are testing more birds; so far nothing unusual has been noted. An AFCD spokesman said officials routinely collect 300 swab samples each month from 39 pet bird stalls across the territory, including 18 at the Bird Garden. Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection established a hotline for the public to call if they have health concerns after visits to the bird shop or the surrounding area. In another development, the AFCD said an H5N1 virus was found in samples from a dead house crow collected on Jun 29.
Jul 5 Hong Kong AFCD statement
