Jakarta- A 45-year-old man has died of bird flu in Indonesia, bringing the country's world-leading death toll from the H5N1 avian influenza virus to 78, a health official confirmed Thursday. The man, identified as Soleh Arif from Central Java district of Grobogan, died on May 28 at a hospital in the province's city of Solo, after developing flu-like symptoms following contact with sick and dead birds, said Joko Suyanto, an official at the Health Ministrys Bird Flu Information Centre.
Suyanto said the victim began showing symptoms of bird flu on May 17 and was brought to a general hospital in the nearby town of Purwodadi on May 24. Two days later, he was transferred to Muwardi hospital in Solo, one of designated hospitals to treat bird flu patients in the province, after his condition continued to deteriorate.
"Many chickens in his village, including belonging to the victim, suddenly died or were sick," Suyanto told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, adding that the victim also reportedly killed, cooked and consumed the sickened chickens.
"Two local tests for him came back positive for H5N1," Suyanto said. He said the man's death brings the toll in Indonesia to 78 deaths from 98 human cases, including 21 people this year.
Alarmed by a sudden spike in bird flu deaths in January after several weeks without one, the Indonesian government declared a ban on backyard poultry farms in residential areas of nine provinces.
The government also placed tight restrictions on the movement and sale of poultry and poultry products across the nine provinces, and is preparing more hospitals to treat human cases of the virus.
Most bird flu victims around the world have had direct or indirect contact with sick birds, but scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmissible among humans, sparking a global pandemic that could kill millions.
