REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian Ministry of Health has alerted several referral hospitals regarding the H5N1 viral transmission from poultry to humans to address the current avian influenza outbreak.

"We are still placing the referral hospitals on standby since the first viral outbreak in 2007, and many hospitals are still making preparations until now. We will step up measures at hospitals, for instance, in the Sulianti Saroso Hospital and the Persahabatan Hospital in Jakarta," Health Minister Nila F. Moeloek stated at the opening of the "Global Health Security Agenda" here on Monday.

The minister noted that the Ministry of Health, through the Directorate General of Health Services, had readied several specialty and regional referral hospitals to handle the cases of avian influenza to anticipate the spread of the infection to humans.

Until March 2016, the H5N1 virus was found only in poultry, or there were no reported cases of it being transmitted to humans, but the Ministry of Health has appealed to people to remain vigilant and to maintain hygiene in poultry cages.

Among the preventive measures outlined for the people raising poultry include frequently clearing out feces from poultry cages as a contact medium that can transmit the bird flu to humans.

It has also been recommended to place bird cages 10 meters away from household premises, to keep the cage gutters clean, and to maintain hygiene in kitchens.

The Ministry of Health has recorded that until March 2016, H5N1 transmission cases were reported in 17 districts or cities in seven provinces of Indonesia.

The seven provinces comprised Lampung, West Java, East Java, Yogyakarta, West Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, and Jakarta.

"A case occurred in Cilandak, Jakarta, because the owner of the poultry house did not maintain proper hygiene as the manure was dumped close to the residential area," stated Director of Vector and Zoonotic Transmission Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health Vensya Sitohang.

Vensya noted that avian flu cases had often surfaced due to the lack of public knowledge of the various modes of transmission to humans, such as through feces or droppings.

In addition, the transmission can also occur from the same knife used to slaughter H5N1 virus-infected chickens and then used on other healthy poultry.

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