Pregnant woman dies of suspected bird flu in Indonesia
A pregnant woman died of suspected bird flu in the Indonesian capital Jakarta early today, doctors said.
They were awaiting laboratory test results to confirm the cause of death.
The 25-year-old patient was admitted to Sulianti Saroso Hospital last week with fever and respiratory problems – symptoms of the H5N1 virus that has killed 20 people in Indonesia, said Ilham Patu, a doctor at the hospital. She was five months pregnant. The baby also died.
Health officials were awaiting local and World Health Organisation laboratory results, but have classified the woman as a “suspected bird flu patient” even though she had no known contact with chickens or ducks, Patu said.
The bird flu virus that has devastated poultry stocks across the region since 2003 has also jumped to humans, killing at least 93, most of them in Asia, according to WHO.
Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmitted from person to person and set off a flu pandemic that could kill millions of people worldwide.
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