Jakarta closes zoo

[Guest guest]

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/09/18/afx2230039.html

 

AFX News Limited

 

Two more human bird flu cases suspected in Indonesia

as Jakarta closes zoo

09.18.2005, 09:15 AM

 

JAKARTA (AFX) - Two more Indonesian children are

suspected of having been infected with bird flu as

authorities closed the Jakarta zoo after 19 birds

there were found to be carrying the deadly virus,

officials said.

 

Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono said that

Jakarta's Ragunan zoo will be closed to the public

through October 17, during which a complete

sterilization of the area and treatment of infected

animals will be completed.

 

Apriantono told the ElShinta private radio that 19 out

of 27 samples taken from various birds at the zoo,

including pigmy chickens and eagles, contained the

bird flu virus.

 

Four other samples were inconclusive and the remaining

four were negative, he said.

 

'Usually two weeks are enough but we decided to raise

it to three weeks to make sure unwanted things would

not happen,' Apriyantono said of the closure, adding

that some 2,100 birds in the zoo's collection will be

tested for the virus.

 

Any bird found carrying the virus would be killed if

it was not from a protected species, the minister

said.

 

Meanwhile, an acting spokesman for the health

ministry, Sumardi, told the Detikcom online news

service that samples from two children suspected of

having bird flu have been sent for Hong Kong for

further tests.

 

One patient is now in stable condition, hospital

officials told ElShinta radio.

 

The government has promised tough action to counter

the spread of bird flu and urged people to remain calm

after the country confirmed a fourth death from the

virus.

 

The death last week of a 37-year-old Jakarta woman

from bird flu brought Indonesia's toll level with that

of Cambodia, while 43 deaths have been recorded in

Vietnam and 12 in Thailand.

 

bs/sdm/rc