By Bradley S. Klapper
Geneva - The World Health Organisation on Tuesday confirmed a 15-year old Indonesian boy as the 128th person to have died of bird flu, but said four nurses in the Asian country have tested negative for the deadly H5N1 virus.
The boy, from the town of Tasikmalaya, died May 30 after being infected, presumably from sick and dying chickens in his household, the United Nations health agency said. The cause of death already had been confirmed in Indonesia, which had a spike in human bird flu cases last month.
"The H5N1 virus is considered firmly entrenched in poultry throughout much of Indonesia," WHO said in a statement. "Unless this situation is urgently and comprehensively addressed, sporadic human cases will continue to occur."
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The health agency said the boy's death was one of several where exposure to the virus appeared to occur despite the "clear signal of a high-risk situation arising from poultry deaths".
The WHO said it was working with Indonesian health authorities to improve public awareness in the country, where at least 49 people have caught the disease and 37 have died since 2003.
Tests, however, on four nurses who had been monitored for influenza-like illness all came back negative for the H5N1 virus, the health body said.
All four of the nurses cared for bird flu patients. One nurse in Bandung, West Java, was identified to have had seasonal flu and another nurse in North Sumatra developed an influenza-like illness, but neither was infected with H5N1. The other two nurses showed only mild symptoms and were tested as a precautionary measure, the WHO said.
"The negative test results for all four nurses provide reassuring evidence that the virus is not spreading efficiently or sustainably among humans at present," it said.
Indonesia has experienced an explosion of bird flu cases, with an average of one every 2 1/2 days last month.
Last month, seven members of a family are believed to have died of bird flu in the largest family cluster reported since the virus began ripping through Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.
Bird flu has infected at least 225 people worldwide since late 2003. It is difficult for humans to catch, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form more easily passed between humans, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds. - Sapa-AP
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