Indonesia recorded its 44th human bird flu death this week, according to the World Health Organization. This surpasses that of neighboring Vietnam with 42 deaths.

This makes 2006 the deadliest year since the H5N1 version of bird flu started spreading rapidly amongst the bird population, and brings this year’s worldwide death toll to 62 out of 93 reported cases (67%).

This number is only for confirmed cases and the actual death toll is likely higher. The World Health Organization indicated this week that another likely case remained unconfirmed due to the inability to collect samples prior to the mans death. This man was the neighbor of the 44th confirmed case. Another neighbor has also died and confirmation of bird flu as cause of death is pending the laboratory results.

So far most people who have become ill have had close contact with poultry. Indonesia has some 2 billion chickens and the virus is endemic in these birds in 27 of the 33 provinces.

Culling this many birds would require massive compensation to farmers and chicken owners. Indonesia has been criticized for not carrying out such an effort. Its neighbor Vietnam has carried out an aggressive culling campaign and has not had a confirmed case of the bird flu in 2006.

Currently Thailand officials are conducting a large-scale culling of chickens in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease. On Sunday the public health minister reported that this weekend 46 people, from 16 different provinces, were put under “medical close watch” while awaiting results of tests to determine if their bird flu like symptoms are the result of the deadly H5N1 form of the virus.

The battle ground is currently set in Asia and possibly Africa against this viral enemy. The more opportunities H5N1 has to mix with the typical human seasonal flu, the greater the likelihood it will acquire the mutations that allow it to spread easily amongst humans. Experts agree if this happens within 6 weeks the worldwide population will be fighting a pandemic battle that will be one for the history books. Technorati Profile

 

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