Indonesia aims for zero human bird flu cases in 2007
By Nabiha Shahab

Jakarta - Indonesia is aiming for zero human cases of bird flu next year as its strategy of poultry vaccination and increasing public awareness appears to be paying off.

Indonesia has the highest number of fatalities from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, with 57 deaths from 74 confirmed cases. The most recent fatality was that of a 35-year-old woman on November 28.

Mass vaccination of poultry had proved successful in slowing down infection rates, said Bayu Krisnamurthi, head of the national committee for control of avian influenza.

"We are aiming for zero cases of human infection by next year," Krisnamurthi told reporters Friday.

The vast majority of human cases have occurred after contact with infected poultry.

"International organisations such as the FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organization) are now more convinced that vaccination, the method that we have chosen, has started to show good results," he said.

"Particularly after the latest cases in China and Vietnam, it is proven that mass culling does not guarantee that the environment is free from the virus."

Vietnam has reported no new human cases since November 2005, but animal outbreaks have been reported in three provinces over the past week.

Krisnamurthi said the ratio of confirmed to suspected cases had dropped significantly since the bird flu committee was established in March.

"This is important because it means people's awareness of the disease has increased. People are more willing to report and be examined by doctors," he said.

Indonesia has not reported any new cases of human infection since November 28. Since October, 14 provinces have not reported any new outbreaks among poultry.

"Unfortunately this does not guarantee that (the province) is bird flu free," he said.

Aceh province, not among the 14, had reported an outbreak after six months without a case.

Krisnamurthi also announced a substantial increase in spending on prevention of bird flu and pandemic preparedness.

International funding would nearly double, from 35 million dollars this year to 65.54 million dollars in 2007, while government spending would rise from 56 million to 61 million.

He acknowledged that some areas, in particular the vaccination program, remained under-funded.

"We have 60 to 70 million doses of vaccine for 2007. That is about 10 percent of what we need to effectively vaccinate chickens raised in backyard farms."

For 2007, Indonesia would maintain its priorities of continuing with public awareness campaigns and moving to restructure the poultry industry.

"We see the importance is not only to face bird flu, but also to prepare the industry for any other animal-sourced diseases in the future," said Krisnamurthi.

Scientists fear the H5N1 strain of the virus could mutate to become easily transmissible among people, which could in turn lead to a global flu pandemic with a potential death toll of millions.

H5N1 has killed more than 150 people worldwide since late 2003, and triggered the mass slaughter of tens of millions of poultry. -- AFP

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