WHO says it has no official report of bird flu outbreak in Indonesia

GENEVA (AFP): The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it had received no official report of bird flu in Indonesia, in contrast with a government announcement that the virus has infected millions of chickens.

"There is no official report on an outbreak of avian influenza," said Klaus Stoehr, head of the WHO's global influenza program.

"There are investigations ongoing like in many other countries now," he told a telephone news conference in response to a question on whether the WHO had confirmed the presence of the disease in the country.

"Birds are dying from many diseases everywhere and there are certainly countries on high alert," Klaus said.

"There is nothing special that is currently going on in Indonesia as far as I understand, nothing officially notified to WHO."

At the weekend, however, Indonesia's ministry of agriculture said millions of chickens had been infected by the virus, while health workers on Wednesday were testing a three-year-old boy to seewhether he was the first human victim of bird flu in the country.