We must wash our hands after touching poultry. This simple thing is the most effective way to prevent influenza, including bird flu,"Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih has confirmed that bird flu has infected poultry in Lombok but there was no report of human bird flu cases in the region so far.
"The virus has indeed spread among poultry. Lombok is among the bird flu endemic regions for poultry, but no human has been reported infected until now," the health minister said here on Monday.
The minister said 30 provinces were still bird flu endemic in poultry, and only three provinces were free of the disease, namely West Kalimantan, Gorontalo and North Maluku.
The health ministry was closely collaborating with the agriculture ministry to curb the bird flu or avian influenza problem and to prevent human fatalities as the death rate was still high, at around 70-80 percent.
Minister Endang urged poultry farmers to improve hygiene.
"We must wash our hands after touching poultry. This simple thing is the most effective way to prevent influenza, including bird flu," she said.
The bird flu virus was so far still infecting some poultry but it could also be transmitted to humans. Therefore, efforts to prevent infections were important, for instance, by keeping poultry at a distance whenever possible, always washing one`s own hands with soap, and keeping children away from dead chickens.
Two children identified by their initials as WA (10) and NRA (5) from Bangli District, Bali Province, recently died of bird flu (H5N1) at Sanglah Hospital, Denpasar.
Three weeks ago, around 1,000 chickens suddenly died and later it was confirmed that bird flu had caused their deaths in Central Lombok District.
The health ministry had prepared 100 hospitals throughout Indonesia to handle bird flu cases which have killed 10 people this year, a significant decrease from the previous years when tens of people died. (*)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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