Health Minister Asks for Bird Flu Serum to be Developed
Monday, 20 November, 2006 | 19:22 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Siti Fadilah Supari, the Health Minister, has asked Indonesian microbiologists to develop a serum to overcome the bird flu virus.

“Life starts from microbiology. I asked the experts to develop a serum for bird flu so that it is no longer a diseases that is a national threat,” said the minister when opening the National Congress IC of Indonesian Clinic Microbiologists Association in Malang, East Java, Saturday (18/11).

She said that bird flu is one diseases that still does not have a cure.

In addition to bird flu, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria are diseases that are becoming threats to Indonesians.

The bird flu serum that Indonesia has for medical treatments so far is aid from the United States.

This serum, said Fadilah, is actually a serum resulting from bird flu virus development in Vietnam.

“In Vietnam, this serum can weaken the bird flu virus,” she said.

However, she was not certain that this serum can weaken bird flu virus in Indonesia.

Since the disease is caused by infection, it is not certain that poultry in Vietnam and in Indonesia are the same.

She asked microbiologists not to depend on aid from abroad and to be confident in developing serum for bird flu medication in spite of limited funds.

Fadilah promised to provide aid to microbiologists in order to develop bird flu serum.

She went on to say that in order to anticipate a national threat, every state hospital in Indonesia has been recommended to form a committee for infection prevention.

Dini Mawuntyas