Via CIDRAP,Robert Roos writes: Indonesia reports 20 H5N1 cases — 19 fatal — since January. Excerpt:
Indonesia’s Ministry of Health, updating information on H5N1 avian influenza for the first time since January, quietly reported this week that the country has had 20 human cases so far this year, with 19 of them fatal—a 95% case-fatality rate (CFR).
A terse notice from the Ministry of Health on Dec 28 listed the figures and said the latest reported case was identified in South Jakarta on Sep 23. Indonesia’s cumulative H5N1 toll since 2005 is now 161 cases with 134 deaths, for a CFR of 83%.
The World Health Organization (WHO) updated its chart of H5N1 cases and deaths today to include the new numbers from Indonesia, but it posted no report on the cases. The global H5N1 total is 467 cases with 282 deaths, a CFR of 60%. Indonesia is the hardest-hit country overall, though Egypt has had more cases this year—39, with just 4 deaths.
Only the longtime Flublogians will really appreciate what the WHO chart means. After all these months of stubborn, dishonest zeros in Indonesia’s 2009 column, we now see something resembling the truth.
WHO has probably been fully aware of the cases and deaths in Indonesia, but has had to keep silent rather than break all ties with that country’s stubborn, dishonest government.
