Jakarta confirms bird flu deaths

By Jerry Norton and Mita Valina Liem

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia announced three deaths from bird flu on Wednesday, taking its overall human toll from the virus to 69 fatalities, as its president called for international aid to help affected countries defeat the disease.

The confirmation of more deaths came a day after Indonesia, which has the world's highest human death toll from H5N1, agreed to resume sharing virus samples for research in exchange for a World Health Organisation agreement to restrict drug company access to them.

The WHO and other experts say sharing samples is vital to finding ways to fight the virus, while Indonesia and some other developing countries like Thailand want to make sure they have access to human vaccines at reasonable prices.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday the world should work to create a level playing field to combat bird flu and other health threats.

"I would like to stress that winning the global health battle depends on empowering all countries to equitably develop their own preparedness and protection capacity for all infectious and life-threatening diseases," he told representatives of nearly 30 countries meeting in Jakarta to discuss the bird flu problem.

The virus is endemic among fowl in many parts of Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country. Human cases generally involve contact with infected birds.

A health ministry official said on Wednesday second tests had confirmed a teenager, a 22-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man had died from bird flu in Indonesia.

The 39-year-old man among the three was from East Java and "was a bird lover ... on March 11 his and neighbours' chickens died suddenly. The tests showed that they were infected by avian flu," Muhammad Nadirin at the health ministry's bird flu centre told Reuters by telephone.

Bird flu has swept through poultry across Asia to Africa and Europe. Experts say it could mutate into a form easily passing from one person to another, possibly killing millions in months.

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Indonesia has had difficulty controlling the disease because millions of Indonesians keep small numbers of chickens, ducks and other domesticated birds, for food and to supplement incomes.

Its agreement on Tuesday to resume sending virus samples to the WHO ended a standoff that began in December when Jakarta refused to share samples of the virus unless it had guarantees they would not be used commercially.

Under the Tuesday agreement the WHO is to develop "terms of reference" on sharing viruses and any sharing outside those rules, including for vaccine development by drug companies, would require the consent of countries from where the virus originated.

"We will take the recommendation to a WHO meeting in June to be formalised," Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari told reporters late on Tuesday.

The WHO said in separate statement it welcomed the Indonesian decision, and "WHO Collaborating Centres will continue risk assessment on H5N1 virus samples. The centres will continue to transform virus into seed virus suitable for vaccine production."