The Indonesian Ministry of Health has begun reporting on H5N1 cases again, but this Avian Influenza Case Report Until June 2010 reflects its problems. Excerpt:
Throughout May s.d. June 2010 there is one additional positive cases of bird flu (H5N1), on behalf of TFA (34 years, P), residents of Jakarta. Positively infected by H5N1 cases were reported according to the examination Laboratory Research Center for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research and Development Agency dated June 4, 2010. Patients with onset of illness on May 25, 2010 with symptoms of fever, cough, shortness of nausea, and muscle aches. Patients treated on May 27 to private practice. A day later to go to private hospitals in Tangerang. During the treatment in hospital, the patient’s condition continued to deteriorate with symptoms of severe pneumonia. June 1, the patient was referred to Tangerang General Hospital and died on the same day.
The main problem is delay. As far as I know, this item was posted fairly recently, and I can’t find anything on the site about more recent cases. (The site is not very navigable.)
The English errors make the report hard to understand, though it’s intelligible if you work at it.
Obviously the ministry’s chief duty is to its own citizens, and the Bahasa Indonesia website may be far more informative and up to date. But when Indonesia is a major focus of H5N1, it ought to be able to put more resources into keeping the rest of the world informed.
