Govt told to be transparent on bird flu spread In

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Health experts warned the government Saturday to be more transparent on the latest bird flu developments in Indonesia, especially after the revelation of its possible transmission from human to human.

Chief welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie said Friday that limited person-to-person transmissions of bird flu have likely occurred in seven clusters of cases across the country, but he ruled out a pandemic of the deadly virus.

Senior health officials struck a cautious note, however, when asked separately about the possible transmission of bird flu among people.

The experts told The Jakarta Post that the government might be holding information on whether or not the virus has already been transmitted between people.

"Although it's a sensitive issue, the government must provide ample information on whether bird flu has become more than just poultry-to-human transmission," said Kemal Siregar, who chairs the Association of the Indonesian Public Health Experts.

He believes Aburizal's assessment, noting that the H5N1 strain of the virus has been circulating in almost all the country's provinces for three years, infecting millions of poultry and killing 37 people.

Kemal said giving the public even the most sensitive information would make them aware of the threat of disease.

"Currently, most Indonesians do not realize that they must be very cautious about a possible human pandemic of bird flu," he said, citing the fact that many people have not voluntarily culled their sick fowl or increased sanitation in their backyard farms.

Sources told the Post that the limited transmission between humans probably occurred only among blood-related members of families, and had not yet spread to people outside the clusters.

The World Health Organization says even though there is no evidence yet to prove human-to-human transmission, it could not be ruled out.

An animal health expert with the Surabaya-based Airlangga University, Chairul A. Nidom, said he would not be surprised if the government had kept such information to itself for a time.

"The question is: who has actually panicked -- the government or the public?" said Chairul, who claimed that his laboratory research in Japan last year showed some of the H5N1 virus spreading in Indonesia had adopted into forms receptive to humans.

Chairul said the government must be more transparent on this issue by giving detailed information to the public to involve them in containing bird flu.

"If only the government had started being honest three years go, we wouldn't be in the present situation," he said.

Kemal further warned that if the government fails to share vital information on the virus' spread, it would not only put the public at greater risk of being uninformed, but also would draw international criticism should a pandemic occur.

Incomplete information given to the public can only let the virus keep spreading among humans, and that could lead to a pandemic, he said.

"If a pandemic occurs in Indonesia due to public ignorance, the world will condemn us," he added.