Indonesian woman dies of bird flu

The woman, aged 32, caught the virus in her home town near Jakarta. Two independent laboratory test have confirmed that the virus was the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The woman was apparently taken back to her home town in Tangerang, Banten, which is about 20km from Jakarta. She kept live chickens in her backyard. She had apparently recently bought a live chicken and some eggs from a market and cooked and eaten them.

Earlier in the month a 16-year-old girl from West Java Province was admitted to hospital in Jakarta suffering from the H5N1 virus. Health officials had found two chickens dying near her home. The girl is stable, although on a ventilator.

Indonesia has recorded the highest number of cases of the H5N1 virus and also the highest number of deaths from the virus since the H5N1 outbreaks started in 2003. The global total number of reported cases is 349, and deaths is 216, according to WHO figures published on 11 January 2008.

Indonesian authorities are currently in discussions with vaccine development groups about supplying samples of the H5N1 virus for vaccine development. They are trying to negotiate cheap and easy access to any virus that is developed, something that is generally a problem in the developing world. Currently it is likely that any vaccine developed would only be provided in quantities sufficient for the rich world.