The Truth About Bird Flu In Bali

Taboo-Breaking Revelations About H5N1 Crossing Over Into Dogs, Pigs, Cats

In Bali, you don't talk about bird flu. And if you do talk about it, you say it's no big deal, poses no threat and nobody should be too worried about it.

Outbreaks of bird flu, particularly human deaths (of which there has been two, possibly three, in August) related to H5N1 infection, have a nasty habit of impacting on the tourist trade. And tourism is the lifeblood of Bali today.

As the Jakarta Post points out, in this revelatory article, "it is very rare to hear someone talk frankly about the threat of bird flu on the island".

The person doing the talking, below, is Denpasar virologist Udayana University Ngurah Mahardika, who was the first to speak out about the possibility of human bird flu deaths in Bali, two years ago, long before they became a nerve-fraying reality :

In his research he came across the daunting discovery that the virus in Bali had crossed over to mammals, such as pigs, dogs and cats.

He became somewhat unpopular on the island, which at the time had just begun to recover from the aftermath of the terrorist bombings of 2002 and 2005.

Bali's government officials and politicians not only dismissed Mahardika's findings, but also criticized the validity of his research.

Despite his skeptics' doubts, and claims that his lab did not comply with bio-security standards, Mahardika was confident with his findings.

Some six months after issuing his warning, a bird flu outbreak in poultry spread across the island -- from Bali's southern Jembrana regency, to west Klungkung regency and the capital city, Denpasar.

Bali's first human victim of the bird flu virus died on Aug. 12, with a second death on Aug. 21, increasing the nation's death toll to 83 out of 105 cases -- the highest fatality rate from H5N1 in humans in the world.

"There was political apathy," he said. "This is the social cost of our ignorance".

He said as a Balinese-Hindu, he believes there is "Atma" (an essential divinity) within all humans. "In my study of molecular biology, I have often asked myself if god put Atma in DNA."

He became aware of the avian influenza virus in 2003 -- when the virus was first detected in Bali and had taken Indonesia's first H5N1 victim in Tangerang, Banten.

"I started to follow the development of the virus and had the chance to do extensive research in 2005," he said.

The island of Bali -- an area of only 5,000 square kilometers and inhabited by 3.2 million humans, who live alongside approximately 12 million fowl and 900,000 pigs -- is a potential breeding ground for the virus.

"It might seem an exhausted thing to say, but public participation is the only way we can fight this virus," he said.

With NGO experience under his belt, Mahardika set up a model program for bird flu awareness.

"My students and I held an educational campaign in Sedang village, in Denpasar. For a period of three months, we conducted campaigns aimed at educating elementary school children and villagers on the bird flu virus. It worked. When there was a bird flu outbreak in the village, they managed to contain it to only nine households," he said.

"There should be an ongoing campaign to combat this virus. Poultry should not be allowed to roam freely in neighborhood areas anymore. All chickens should be fenced in and separated from pigs. The public markets (where they are sold) should be reorganized ... live fowl should no longer be sold there."

Mahardika said the possibility of a pandemic was no longer a question of if, but when.

"Now is the only time humans have the chance to prevent a pandemic," he said.

"We didn't have a chance with AIDS because it spread quietly and unseen, but bird flu is different -- we have the chance to contain it.

"It is in our hands -- we can either do something about it or remain in denial."