BIRD FLU NEWS
Indonesian nurse with bird flu-like symptoms hospitalized
UPDATED: 11:28, June 03, 2006
A 25-year old nurse identified by her initials as "Ci" is currently being treated at the Hasan Sadikin Hospital for bird flu-like symptoms in Bandung, capital of West Java province, Indonesia.
Ci was admitted to the hospital which has been treating a number of bird flu patients on Thursday evening, Antara news agency reported on Friday.
"When she arrived at this hospital last night, her body temperature was very high, namely 39.6 Celsius degrees but now it has decreased to 37 Celsius degrees," Hadi Jusuf, head of the bird flu medical treatment unit of the hospital, was quoted as saying Friday.
The hospital was planning to send the patient's blood sample to the laboratory of the Health Development and Research Body in Jakarta.
"We could not confirm whether she is positive of having been infected by avian influenza virus or not, although she had earlier have contacts with siblings, 18-year old Ad and 10-year old Ai, who died of bird flu virus recently," he said.
The ailing nurse has never had contact with poultry, but she had treated the sibling when being treated at Ujungberung Hospital, where Ci works as a nurse.
If she is confirmed of being infected by bird flu virus, it would be the first case of human-to-human transmission of the virus, he said.
Meanwhile, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced that international health investigators were finding no evidence that efficient transmission of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus has emerged from a family cluster of cases in Indonesia's North Sumatra.
The H5N1 virus has caused 127 deaths in 224 cases worldwide since it was detected in humans in late 2003. In all but a handful of cases, humans have become infected through direct contact with ailing birds, their feces or blood.
Indonesia has detected 49 cases of H5N1, 31 of those appearing since January, and ending in 37 fatalities.
