81st Bird Flu Victim In Indonesia

It is more effective if the Tamiflu is given to a patient in the first 24 hours

The Indonesian people have recently suffered from another death from the deadly avian flu virus which means that the total number of Indonesians who have succumbed to the H5N1 virus is now 81. The recent death was confirmed by the Health Ministry in Jakarta and the details of the victim were released.  In this case it was a 6 year old boy from a town called Cilegon that is around 50 miles outside the capital city Jakarta.

The Indonesian government has started up a National Bird Flu Information Centre to coordinate information about the H5N1 flu virus and to the keep statistics about the number of people who have been infected. In all it is reported that 102 people have been infected with the virus in Indonesia and 81 of them have died.  In some countries the statistics show that far more people are surviving from the H5N1 avian flu virus in their countries and it appears that in the beginning the Indonesian government was very disorganised and thus practically everybody who got the bird flu virus died of it.

Probably the most effective measure that the Indonesian government have come up with this season is to ban people living in Jakarta from keeping chickens and other poultry in the back yards of their houses. This widespread practice was thought to be one of the factors why people became infected with the flu as the birds lived in very close proximity to the people living in the houses.

The most important action for a person who is suffering from the bird flu disease is that it is quickly identified so that he can take the bird flu medication Tamiflu. If the Tamiflu drug is administered to the patient within the first 48 hours of an attack the chances of that patient surviving are greatly increased. It is even more effective if the Tamiflu is given to a patient in the first 24 hours, basically the earlier the better.