From all observations the avian influenza situation in Indonesia is not very encouraging. The recent deaths of several members of one family from the H5N1 virus fuelled speculation that the virus was spreading form person to person. However, the latest information suggested that that was not the case and that the infected family members most likely got the virus from direct contact with sick and dying backyard poultry. The possibility that this family might have had a genetic predisposition to contracting the virus in still being investigated. To date forty-four persons have died from the virus in Indonesia which now has the dubious distinction as being the country with the most deaths from the H5N1 virus.
Currently the virus continues to spread among Indonesia’s vast poultry population (estimated to be in the billions) and new outbreaks are occurring quite frequently especially among rural backyard flocks which are kept by almost all villagers. Many feel that the Indonesia government is not doing enough to control or eradicate the virus. The government on the other hand cites lack of sufficient resources and the fact that pledges of significant monetary contribution from developed nations have not being forthcoming. In all of this conundrum the major concern of the international scientific community is that as long as the virus continues to spread unabated in domestic poultry the possibility of it mutating to a form which could be easily transmissible between people will increase. In other words the best way to prevent man to man spread, and thus a human pandemic in the future is to control or eradicate the virus in domestic poultry as quickly as it is detected.
The situation in the rest of Asia remains stable except that new outbreaks have been reported in the past weeks in Thailand and Cambodia. In Africa many countries have reported cases in poultry and most governments are now scrambling to seek funding for surveillance and laboratory support and to improve their veterinary infrastructure.
In many countries (both in Africa and Asia) farmers are reluctant to report cases to the government official because no compensation is being paid for birds that are destroyed by the state. So funds for paying compensation to farmers are also being sought by governments which are already strapped for cash.
It is generally recognized that the payment of compensation to farmers whose poultry have been destroyed to control the disease is a critical element in the eradication effort. The rationale is that if no compensation is paid farmers will not readily report sick or dying birds to the authorities and the disease will spread. Indeed there have been many well documented cases where diseases have spread from one region of a country to another or even from one country to another because farmers moved their animals for fear that they will be destroyed by government veterinary officials in the effort to eradicate a disease. If compensation is paid farmers will be less reluctant to do this.
Of some importance to us is the recent announcement by the US Secretary of Agriculture that the US government is to expand its wild bird monitoring activity for the H5N1 virus to ensure early detection should wild birds carry the virus to the USA. In a statement the Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns said, “Because we cannot control wild birds, our best protection is an early warning system and this move to test thousands more wild birds throughout the country will help to quickly identify, respond and control the virus, if it arrives in the United States.”
In my opinion all countries in the region should follow the US example.
