Karima Anjani, Jakarta – Indonesia's government came under fire from farmers on Monday over its handling of a bird flu outbreak that has killed millions of chickens, while officials saidtake days to determine if it is dangerous to humans.
The agriculture ministry said it was waiting for tests to see if the strain of flu was the same H5N1 type found in Thailand, Vietnam and several other Asian countries, which has killed seven people and resulted in the mass slaughter of poultry.
"We are currently seeking to find out if the virus strain is H5N1 ... Hopefully we will know by the end of this week," said agriculture ministry spokesman Hari Priyono.
Indonesia confirmed a bird flu outbreak among chickens on Sunday, but authorities said they had found no evidence the disease had spread to humans.
The government had previously said Indonesia was free of the flu and blamed the deaths of chickens in East Java and the tourist island of Bali on Newcastle disease, a virus harmless to humans that does not affect the safety of poultry meat.
Indonesian Farmers Association Chairman Siswono Yudhohusodo said the flu outbreak had already cost the poultry industry millions of dollars.
"It shows the government has not been alert from the beginning. I deeply regret that the initial diagnosis was far too simple and attributed to Newcastle disease," Yudhohusodo told Reuters.
"There may be more unreported cases, so it is difficult to give an accurate guess, but the damage must be billions of rupiah," he said.
The agriculture ministry said 4.7 million chickens had died since November, and 40 percent were infected both with avian influenza and Newcastle disease.
At least 400 farms spread throughout most of the vast archipelago have been affected by the outbreak.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Indonesia said he was confident any threat to humans could be minimised and people in the world's fourth-most populous country should not avoid eating chicken.
Avian influenza can range from a mild disease that has only minor effects to a highly infectious version that is fatal.
A contagious bird flu that has spread across parts of Asia in recent weeks has jumped to humans in Vietnam and Thailand, killing seven people.
But experts say there is no sign the flu is being passed between people. All of the human victims are believed to have come into contact with sick chickens.
'Cover-up'
Indonesian media have also been critical. "Government confirms bird flu after long cover-up," said a front-page headline in the Jakarta Post on Monday.
But the agriculture ministry spokesman denied any cover-up, saying authorities had found a strain of avian influenza in Indonesian poultry in December but had not wanted to jump the gun and assume it was dangerous to people. "We didn't plan to announce anything yet, but the media have raised this. We planned to complete the research to see whether H5N1 does exist in Indonesia," Priyono said.
The WHO representative said he had met Indonesia's health authorities and they were taking steps to handle the situation.
"I don't know much about what happened from the agricultural side, but from the ministry of health side they took action as soon as the international situation became known," said Georg Petersen. "We are somewhat optimistic that the health section would be able to deal with this." Petersen said people working in the poultry industry should be aware that the disease may be able to jump to humans, but eating properly cooked chicken was harmless.
Most Jakarta residents remained oblivious. "There are no complaints from customers so far. Things are as usual," said a chicken vendor at a central Jakarta market.
[Additional reporting by Harry Suhartono.]