Indonesia: Avian influenza, Earthquakes, and E. coli

---

Anyhow, Indonesia: our last stop for Team Southeast Asia but I will be going onward to the Singapore Zoo for my last two weeks in Asia. We are in a city called Bogor, about 60 km south of Jakarta in West Java.

We are working with a veterinary NGO here, CIVAS (Centre for Indonesian Analytical Studies) which was formed in 2005. Despite being such a young organization, they have accomplished a lot and I’m very impressed with the work they have done. The origins of the group lay largely in the concern of a few recent vet grads with the avian influenza problem in Indonesia. Just so you know, they have had the highest number of cases of avian influenza H5N1 in humans (102) and the most deaths (82) and continue to have outbreaks of many strains in poultry. They call the disease a blessing in disguise in some ways since it has spurred action from many health and veterinary fronts, but they also face some daunting obstacles. Most of the vets are young (under 30) which makes for a very fun environment, but they also benefit from some older advisors (Dr. Tata and Dr. Denny) who also have experience with the government and working at an international level.

They are highly aware of the negative international attention their country is receiving from avian influenza and it’s interesting to hear about the slowly changing attitude of the everyday people. I was very keen to come here and check things out for myself and while I knew things were complicated, you definitely get a different perspective seeing and hearing about it firsthand. There is no quick solution to the problem but the CIVAS crew are extremely motivated and dedicated.

So what have we been doing here? We first visited a large poultry breeding farm which we soon learned was actually located smack dab in the middle of an H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in surrounding farms. Thankfully this farm has high biosecurity and has never had an outbreak. We actually had to shower in and shower out, which is always an adventure. Next we had a chance to see more of the backyard chicken flocks which many see as the source of the problem because these are free range chickens that can go just about anywhere. CIVAS was taking blood samples for monitoring antibody titres after vaccination and we all had our hand at taking blood samples from chickens. Of course, the most fun part is chasing the chickens around the yard first…a task I left to the farmers. We also sat down to a long and interesting chat with KAPRAK, the native chicken association who are trying to change backyard flocks into a more organized fashion by taking an economic perspective. If a farmer starts housing their chickens and feeding them, they can grow their chickens faster and then sell them sooner.

We spent a couple days at the nearest vet school as well touring and listening to a couple lectures. Next came the fun part. Me and E. coli had a run in which ended up putting me out of commission for 3 days. I must say, the Indonesian healthcare is quite impressive and my doctor even went to school at McMaster in Canada. Anyhow, that meant very little activity for me but Laetitia and Mike had to head off to Kediri, Indonesia without me to continue some vet work with Indonesian veterinary students. The benefit of me not going: experiencing my first earthquake! The epicentre was about 300 km from here and was 7 on the Richter scale. I thought I was going crazy when I felt the building move but alas, I may be crazy but there was still an earthquake!

Sorry about the lack of photos for this entry. My camera is with Laetitia and Mike in Kediri and seriously, most of the photos would likely be of the hospital!

---