JAKARTA, Sept. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- World Health Organization (WHO) experts said that the increasing number of people showing bird-flu-like symptoms in Indonesia did not mean that the outbreak was becoming worse.
They asserted Thursday that there was no evidence yet that the virus could be easily passed between people in the country -- a troubling scenario that could lead to a global pandemic that killed millions, the Jakarta Post daily reported on Friday.
The statements came amid growing anxiety over the rising number of suspected bird flu cases here, after the Indonesian government earlier warned people of the possibility that the outbreak could become an epidemic. A number of foreign experts are expected to meet with government officials here on Friday to assess the situation.
WHO's representative in Indonesia, Georg Petersen, said that there was as yet no evidence that the H5N1 bird flu strain had mutated into a form that could trigger a pandemic, although he warned that there could be a possible human-to-human transmission of the disease through close contact with an infected person.
"I think very close contact with a sick person might infect that caretaker. That is why in hospitals we need to take all precautions," he added.
The case of a father and his two daughters who died in the Tangerang, Banten, south of Jakarta, in July might have involved "within-family transmission," Petersen said.
Dr Margaret Chan, the WHO global special representative on avian flu, said there was so far no biological evidence for the increased chance of human-to-human transmission.
Neither did a rise in the number of suspected cases point to an epidemic, she said.
The WHO last week warned that bird flu was moving toward a form that could be passed between humans and that the world had no time to waste to prevent a pandemic. Past influenza pandemics have killed millions.
Bird flu has killed four Indonesians since July, and two children who died this week are suspected of having had the disease. Laboratory test results are expected within days, as 13 other patients are under hospital observation.
The Indonesian government has increased measures to help curb the bird flu outbreak after imposing an extraordinary alert status earlier this week. On Wednesday, the government dismissed the chief of animal health control, announced plans of a mass cull of chickens in highly infected areas, and threatened to hospitalize, by force if necessary, anyone showing symptoms of the disease.
Victims were also promised free medication. Some 10,000 tablets of Tamiflu -- the only treatment so far proven effective against bird flu in humans -- are now available.
So far, most of bird flu victims have been in the Greater Jakarta area. On Thursday, the government said it planned to re-zone poultry farms and slaughterhouses in Jakarta in a bid to stop the spread of the bird flu virus. Enditem
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