Two More Indonesian Bird Flu Deaths

In the wake of the 14-year-old dying just a few days ago, two new H5N1 deaths have occurred in Indonesia. They must have been amongst the "six suspected of being infected," since last I heard it was just the boy and the 37 year old woman who had been confirmed as having the virus (Both have subsequently died). Here's the BBC with more about it:

"Two women in Indonesia have died after contracting bird flu, health officials have confirmed, raising the country's total number of human deaths to 61.

A 27-year-old woman from the capital, Jakarta, died in hospital on Friday evening, officials said. Another woman, aged 22, died west of Jakarta in the early hours of Saturday.

Indonesia has the world's highest human death toll from the H5N1 virus, and registered more bird flu deaths in 2006 than any other nation.

The AFP news agency reported that another patient was in hospital showing symptoms of bird flu infection.

That patient has been placed in an isolation ward after killing a sick chicken and apparently contracting the disease, the report said.

The latest deaths are the third and fourth fatalities of 2007 in Indonesia. A 14-year-old boy died earlier this week from bird flu symptoms, and a 37-year-old woman was also killed."

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Looks like Jakarta is quickly becoming the most obvious candidate for "ground zero" if/when this flu goes pandemic.

In other news, there hasn't been a word in the press about what happened to the birds in Austin, Texas, and some weird Australian bird deaths have had H5N1 ruled out. Surely the Texas Tech (or was it Texas A&M?) tests have been done by now, where's the report? What did the birds die of?

Also, there is some concern that H5N1 has found its way back into Japan.