Indonesia is showing increased "political impetus" to tackle bird flu within its poultry population, but the H5N1 virus still remains widespread across the country, the United Nations' bird flu czar said Monday.
Dr David Nabarro, the UN's senior system coordinator for avian and human influenza, said Indonesia must expend more energy on "reducing the amount of highly pathogenic H5N1 in poultry."
"We have heard evidence today that (bird flu) is widespread," he told a press conference with Dr Bayu Krisnamurthi, chief of Indonesia's national committee for bird flu control. "We've also heard of possible affects to humans."
Nabarro's visit came after five Indonesians who were in contact with sick birds suddenly died last month, bringing the country's world-worst total to 63.
But Nabarro was generally upbeat about the Jakarta government's progress since his last visit in late 2006, noting its cooperation with international health agencies and new willingness to cull chickens where there is a high risk of an outbreak of the virus.
Indonesia's efforts to curb the spread of bird flu have been hampered by the reluctance of some poultry owners, especially backyard farmers, to hand over sick or potentially infected birds for slaughter.
But the government began offering compensation to local farmers and residents for destroyed fowl, and has also set up surveillance systems across its 33 provinces, as well as begun vaccinating birds and culling when necessary.
Prior to the five deaths in January, Indonesia had not had a bird flu fatality since November 2006. Alarmed, the government banned backyard chicken farms in residential areas in Jakarta and nine provinces, including across densely-populated Java and neighbouring Sumatra.
It is common for residents in Indonesia to earn extra money or provide food for their families by raising chickens in their yards. Health experts say this is one of the ways the H5N1 virus spreads from birds to humans.
Most bird flu victims globally had direct or indirect contact with sick birds, but scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form easily transmissible among humans, sparking a global pandemic that could kill millions.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta government has not yet decided whether to attempt to impose an intellectual property rights claim over an Indonesian strain of H5N1 that is being used to create a vaccine in Australia.
"It's still under discussion by the government," Krisnamurthi told reporters. "It's not an easy question to answer."
Last week, Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said the strain on which the vaccine is based belonged to Indonesia, a claim that could complicate future agreements on sharing and using bird flu specimens for research worldwide.
Nabarro said he was hopeful that the issue of intellectual property rights would be discussed and resolved during a forthcoming meeting of the World Health Organisation.
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