Sister of Indonesian H5N1 Victim Also Infected

This is the sister of death #51 for Indonesia, who was a 9-year old boy. From AlertNet:

"JAKARTA, Sept 29 (Reuters) - A 21-year-old Indonesian woman, the sister of a boy who died of bird flu earlier this month, is suffering from the same disease, the health ministry said on Friday.

The patient, currently being treated at a hospital in East Java province, had contact with sick and dead fowl, as had her brother, said Runizar Ruesin, the head of the ministry's bird flu information centre.

"She has been declared a bird flu positive case by the ministry lab and NAMRU," he told Reuters, referring to a U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit based in Jakarta.

The Soetomo hospital in East Java capital Surabaya said the woman was also suffering from pneumonia.

"Her condition is stable but her pneumonia has not improved yet. She is still being supported by a respirator," Urip Murtejo, the hospital's deputy director, told Reuters."

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Indonesia has a Bird Flu Information Centre? Kind of like Iraq's Minister of Information? This reeks of human to human transmission, and I don't think this Information Centre is anything more than a propoganda and spin machine. Yeah, sure, the whole family was just playin' with dead chickens in the yard! Makes sense!

Indonesia can't keep their little kids from playing with dead birds, this is much is obvious. I didn't realize they had a problem with 20-year-olds picking up dead things they randomly find, as well.

Meanwhile, their death count goes up to 52. And here I thought China was going to be the epicenter...