"The two patients are identified as Rifatul, 10, and Rafi Rizandi, six," Dr.Finny Fitri Yani said here Wednesday.
Rifatul had been hospitalized since February 26 while Rafi Rizandi was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday (March 2), she said.
Both of them were suspiciously infected by the bird flu symptoms, such as high fever. she said.
The doctors had taken their respective blood samples to be examined in laboratory in Jakarta to find out whether or not bird flu virus was the cause of the kids` ailment, she said.
Ailing Rafi Rizandi`s father, Asril Anas, said he admitted his child to the hospital due to his high fever after some of his chickens suddenly died a week ago.
Asril Anas said he did not know the causes of sudden deaths of his chickens but he was afraid that his son`s ailment was related to the impacts of his chickens` deaths.
The bird flu virus remains a serious threat in Indonesia because from 33 provinces the country has, only three have been confirmed free from the bird flu threat.
Indonesia has been plagued by bird flu since 2005. However, the H5N1 type influenza is also known to have attacked chickens and birds in other Asian countries, such as Thailand, Cambodia, China, and Vietnam.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), avian influenza or "bird flu" is a contagious disease among animals caused by a virus that normally infects only birds and, less commonly, pigs.
WHO has warned that avian influenza can spread very rapidly in a poultry or fowl population.
Over the past three weeks of January 2011, bird flu has also infected chickens in Mugirejo village, Sungai Pinang subdistrict, in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.
A bird flu outbreak had also spread in Kerinci district, Jambi province, recently.
According to a veterinarian in West Java, the bird flu virus attacking Indonesia was classified as "highly pathogenic avian influenza" (HPAI). (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
