INDONESIA - FEBRUARY 21 AVIAN INFLUENZA UPDATE

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SUBJECT:INDONESIA - FEBRUARY 21 AVIAN INFLUENZA UPDATE



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officials have vaccinated more than 21,000 birds with a

total target of 160,000. Since the recent outbreak, city

officials are focusing more attention on the vaccination

program. Suhartoyo said his office needs additional

equipment to effectively carry out bird vaccinations.



MEETING WITH EAST JAVA PROVINCIAL OFFICIALS

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6. (U) ConGen Surabaya discussed the recent outbreak of AI

in Surabaya and the provincial poultry vaccination program

with Suhadji, Deputy head of the East Java Provincial

Livestock and Animal Husbandry Department and Bambang

Hermawan, Head of the Animal Health Division of the

Department on March 16. Suhadji stated that his office

assisted the City of Surabaya Livestock office in dealing

with its AI outbreak last month, and confirmed that city

officials followed the proper procedures as set out by the

MOA. Suhadji and Hermawan said there are no known human AI

cases in East Java at this time, as recently stated by the

Governor. Suhadji added that provincial officials have

detected the AI virus in bird populations in 2006 in four

previously "clean" regencies (Situbondo, Bondowoso,

Lumajang, and Surabaya). He added that 29 of the total 38

East Java regencies and cities are now or have been infected

with AI.



7. (U) East Java province is administering a large

vaccination program covering small holders of poultry,

according to Hermawan. Provincial officials have vaccinated

4 million birds in the province so far, with a goal of 23

million birds in all of the infected regencies. They are

not offering vaccinations to large commercial poultry

operators because provincial officials assume they can

afford vaccinations for their flocks. Hermawan complained

that the province has 1,000 personnel trained to administer

the vaccines but they lack sufficient medicine and equipment

to effectively carry out the program. Hermawan also noted

that his office has been preemptively spraying disinfectant

in provincial areas populated with migratory birds,

including Surabaya, Pasuruan, Sidoarjo and Gresik in an

effort to delay the spread of the AI virus to domestic

birds.



AI IN CENTRAL JAVA

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8. (U) On March 20, Suara Merdeka newspaper reported the

death from AI of 1,650 chickens in Grobogan Regency, Central

Java. However, Dr. Rianto, Chief Veterinarian from the

Animal Health Division of Grobogan Regency Livestock and

Fisheries Office told Congen Surabaya officers on March 23

that the article had misstated the facts. Instead, Rianto

said regency officials had destroyed 200 birds either

infected with or dead from the AI virus in early 2006. In

addition, regency officials destroyed 1,450 birds infected

or exposed to AI in two different villages during 2004 and

400,000 dead or infected birds in 2003. Rianto clarified

that the large discrepancy between the numbers of birds

destroyed between 2003 and subsequent years was due to a



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massive reduction of the number of infected birds in the

regency.



9. (U) Rianto said the regency is not culling healthy birds

in the vicinity of outbreaks, only properly disposing of

dead birds or culling birds showing symptoms of AI virus

infection. Grobogan officials do not follow MOA directives

to cull all birds within a 1-kilometer radius around an AI

virus outbreak due to the ineffectiveness of the GOI's

compensation program for farmers. Rianto said there is a

great deal of paperwork involved with making a compensation

claim, and a MOA representative must come from Jakarta to

verify and approve any compensation requests, a process that

is slow and prone to corruption. "Most local farmers only

have a few chickens and do not object to our removing birds

that are already dead or sick without compensation", noted

Dr. Rianto.



Human AI Case Profile

--------------



10. (U) NAMRU-2 has identified a new probable case, a 23-

year old male from the Jakarta suburb of Bekasi. Hong Kong

Laboratories and U.S. Centers for Disease Control, (CDC),

have confirmed H5N1 in two probable cases, a one-year old

from Jakarta and a 5- year old from Bekasi. The Ministry of

Health (MOH) and NAMRU-2 have petitioned the World Health

Organization (WHO) to include two older probable cases (an 8-

year old female and a 45-year old male) as positive for

H5N1. Thus, these two victims are included in NAMRU-2's

total, but are not listed as confirmed by the WHO.



11. (SBU) NAMRU-2 data indicates the following AI-related

case profile as of April 4:



-- Number of laboratory confirmed (positive PCR and/or

serology) human AI cases: 33, of which 25 have been fatal

(fatality rate of 76 percent).



-- Number of probable AI cases: 4, with 2 deaths (fatality

rate of 50 percent).



-- Number of cases awaiting verification by the US CDC: 4.



-- Number of possible AI cases under investigation:

approximately 32.



-- Number of excluded AI cases: 248.



PASCOE