Human bird flu cluster fears in Sumatra

Seven Indonesians, including three children all from the same village in Sumatra are being treated for bird flu symptoms in what doctors fear could be two new clusters of the virus. While blood tests are still to confirm H5N1strain infections, the patients are believed to have been infected by chickens in the Karo district which have died and tested positive for the virus. The three children, two siblings aged 10, and six and their 18-month-old neighbour were admitted to the Adam Malik hospital in Medan on Tuesday after showing signs of the disease. Medical officials have said that their condition is stable, and they are suffering from the usual fever, flu and cough associated with bird flu. "Their lungs have not shown signs of pneumonia but we have to keep monitoring them because in one or two days things could change," Luhur Suroso, the hospital director said. Seven members of the one extended family who lived in the same North Sumatran district as those involved in the new outbreak, died from bird flu in May. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2295897,00.html