Bird Flu Experts Warning: Indonesia

And yet another person has died from the Avian virus and this time it is a young boy in South Jakarta. The concentration of deaths from this virus has so far been contained to the islands outside of Bali but for how long.

It seems there are serious concerns and scientists from the World Health Organization, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will work with government officials to try to map out a plan to combat the H5N1 virus that has killed 130 people worldwide. Experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that is highly contagious among humans potentially sparking a pandemic. So far most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds. There was one case reported recently that a cat was actually a carrier of the H5N1 virus but that has yet to be confirmed.

A WHO approved laboratory in Hong Kong confirmed Tuesday that a teenage boy from Jakarta died last week of the disease, pushing Indonesia's toll to 39, second only to Vietnam which has 42. Now, top scientists in the field are in a crisis meeting in Jakarta a month after Indonesia grappled with the world's largest reported family cluster. Six of seven family members from a remote farming village on Sumatra died after testing positive for the bird flu virus. An eighth relative was buried before samples could be taken but WHO considers her part of the cluster.