The end of human existence is near.

[Young]

Two Avian-Flu Deaths in Indonesia Not Linked to Birds (Update1)
Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Two Indonesian women who died from avian influenza earlier this month had no known contact with flu-infected birds, said a doctor at a hospital that treated one of the patients.

``It remains unclear how the two people contracted the disease,'' said Ilham Patu, 47, a medical officer with Sulianti Saroso, one of two hospitals in Jakarta designated to treat bird-flu cases.

A government investigation found no fowl or other birds were infected with the bird-flu virus near their homes, Patu said in an interview today.

The H5N1 virus has infected at least 130 people and killed 67 since December 2003 in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand, the World Health Organization said yesterday. The deaths, and new poultry infections in Vietnam and China this week, heighten concern the virus may mutate into a strain more easily passed between humans, leading to a pandemic that may kill millions.

The World Health Organization laboratory in Hong Kong confirmed on Nov. 16 the two Indonesian women died of the H5N1 virus, taking the number of confirmed cases in Indonesia to 11.

In about 80 percent of human cases, the infection was probably caused by direct contact with sick or dying birds, Georg Petersen, WHO's representative in Jakarta, said in a Nov. 14 interview.

``Then we are left with a group of people where we don't know exactly how they got infected,'' Petersen said. In cases where more than one person in a family became infected, authorities may ``know the source of one person, but not the others,'' he said.

Human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 avian flu virus is ``not proven and not disproved,'' Petersen said. ``There is only one case published from Thailand'' where human-to-human transmission is implicated, he said.

In Indonesia, two teenagers who had developed symptoms are undergoing tests for the virus. Neither had been exposed to H5N1-infected chickens at their homes, Patu said.

Four people in Indonesia confirmed to have contracted the H5N1 strain have survived, Sari Setiogi, a World Health Organization spokeswoman in Jakarta, said yesterday.



To contact the reporters on this story:
Soraya Permatasari in Jakarta at [email protected]
Last Updated: November 18, 2005 07:02 EST

Civilization has reached its apex. Whats after Plasma TV'? Does it get any clearer? No...that is proof enough

This flu, or some version of this flu is going to take out 90% of the worlds population...it is going to be chaos.

The end is near. It is about time.

[Pipecrew]

oh well, i will move to alaska with 5 or 6 hot girls and hang out there.

[Young]

Originally Posted by Pipecrew

oh well, i will move to alaska with 5 or 6 hot girls and hang out there.

dude im coming....so we'll bring 12.

[Screaming]

Make it 21. Im with you guys.

[xclusive]

To survive i'll be one of the chicks