H5N1 bird flu in Indonesia is now is human-to-human it seems.

H5N1 bird flu in Indonesia is now is human-to-human it seems.
By Cluck Cluck We All Fall Down
Mar 7, 2006, 08:05

While European TV and newspapers carry daily articles about the latest case of a H5N1 infected dead wild bird being found within the EU’s borders filling the European population with fear, it seems Indonesia records yet another human death from this potential deadly human plague; when humans contract the disease they have about a one in four chance of survival. Indonesia now officially has the highest mortality rate from bird flu of any country, although the actual death toll is believed by many to be far higher as very few people actually believe the Indonesian Authority’s reporting honesty as they have lied countless times before. But even allowing for a larger number of cases of deadly bird flu in Indonesia than its too often nasty government will admit to, the other news that is coming out despite Indonesia’s draconian media suppression is alarming.

Ilham Patu, the spokesman and head of the bird flu surveillance unit at Jakarta's Sulianti Saroso Hospital has been quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying (and please do not let the certainty escape you) “We can't guess when the spread of the virus among humans will occur because it will need a thorough examination of the source of the virus from each patient in a cluster.” What is a cluster? Cluster cases, which are growing rapidly in Indonesia, are defined as when and where several members of a household or neighborhood fall sick from H5N1 at the same time. And it seems clear that what the experts are saying, examination of and the number of Indonesian H5N1 clusters can not be attributed to each infected person within each cluster having been infected by a chicken; they were likely infected by another family / group member.

The first stage of human-to-human contagion is direct, such as where two people kiss or where someone takes a bite out of a sandwich which another infected person has just also taken a bite from. The second step is the one that likely spells disaster for the human race H5N1 wise, it is where the virus adapts or mutates to being able to exist in a living or in a state of stasis outside the human body thus being able to infect another person through indirect contact; in other words, how all human flu viruses infect. This is where, for example, an infected person sneezes or more likely passes their own infected saliva onto their own hands. Then when they touch something or someone else, the virus passes onto that surface. Human flu viruses migrate through airborne infection or where a human touches an infected object or person, thereby contaminating their own hands, and then when they rub their eyes, mouth or nose, the virus passes into them. Although viruses can lose some even a great deal of their potency as they mutate to human-to-human second level form, the H5N1 virus would have to lose an extraordinarily large amount of its potency in order to avert a massive human plague in which millions of people would likely die.

The problem with Indonesia is “transparency” and “delivery”. The Indonesian authorities and government have previously hidden the truth; that is lied about H5N1 bird flu and other virus outbreaks in their country. When Megawati was president it is alleged she was “lobbied”, perhaps the Indonesian cover up wobble term for “bribed” or otherwise coerced to cover up H5N1 outbreaks in Indonesia as a “favour” to the 5 wealthy Indonesian families who control the vast majority of the commercial poultry business in the country. Based on the present president’s petulance for suppressing news which does not suit the untenable, unfounded and unsustainable public face of his government, we would not trust President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as far as we could throw him either. And as the saying goes “We could not throw him as we would like to”.

It seems clear foreign governments have closing their own International borders in mind, as well as externally closing another infected country’s borders. That is to say, as we have suggested before, Indonesia could well have its borders closed from the outside, so don’t get stuck in Bali or other parts of Indonesia with no way to get out and with a deadly bird now human flu epidemic ravaging the archipelago; especially with Indonesia’s appalling health care system. Of course foreign governments through national interest (commercial need) and diplomatic protocols (brown nosing) may well miss the chance to seal Indonesia’s borders in time if matters get much worse, so do not count on such external measures saving the world when the Indonesian Authorities do not act. President Yudhoyono et al may well yet become the mass murderers of all time. All we say to foreigners is please do not place yourselves, your family, your friends and others at risk, and please do not endorse the culture of nasty lies and deceit which one day soon might kill us all. Please, do not go to or invest in Indonesia, and that includes Bali.