The government of Indonesia has confirmed the first known fatality in that country from the bird flu. The cause of death of a man in Indonesia who died last week has been confirmed as the bird flu.
His two daughters died within a few days of him from similar symptoms. While it is believed they also contracted the bird flu, that has yet to be confirmed by lab analysis.
'We don't distinguish between the three,' Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said in announcing bird flu as the cause of their deaths. 'But how they got infected is still unknown.'
The fear is that the family members may have spread the disease to each other. Human-to-human contact has not been confirmed as the method of spreading the bird flu as of yet. However, scientists from the World Health Organization have warned that if the H5N1 strain of the bird flu mutates to allow for human-to-human transmission, a worldwide pandemic could soon follow. The result could be tens of millions of deaths throughout the world.
It remains possible that all three family members contracted the disease through contact with the same bird or an object touched by bird droppings.
Indonesian health officials are now monitoring 300 people who had contact with the family. Thus far, none of them have come down with the bird flu.
