In mid-April 2006, Bernard Vallat, head of the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) told reporters: "Indonesia is a time-bomb for the region." Vallat was referring to Indonesia having Asia's highest number of unchecked infection sites, which he correlated to the number of bird flu cases in birds and humans. Ever mindful of its tourist revenue, the Indonesian agriculture minister rebutted Vallat's comment by announcing that Indonesia was winning its fight against bird flu and expects to be free of the killer virus by 2008.

Bernard Vallat

This Indonesian official's comment was greeted with scorn, but then reports of new cases went comparatively quiet at the end of April and into the first week in May. But the events that put Indonesia squarely into the international spotlight for two months had begun in late April and had gone virtually unnoticed even by the Indonesia media until May 9 when the local media announced that in the Karo area of North Sumatra a man had been hospitalized with suspected bird flu. The Indonesian press also took notice that his mother had died a few days earlier and that others in the family were sick.

Family cluster is near Medan, Indonesia

Indonesia and other countries had experienced a number of family clusters, which raised the specter of human-to-human transmission, but WHO maintained that in these clusters family members were all infected from exposure the same flu-infected birds, usually in the preparation or eating of them. It was difficult to prove otherwise because WHO withheld critical information about onset dates. Significant gaps between onset dates can account for transmission from one person to another.

But this time it was different: facts emerged that made it impossible for WHO to sweep things under the rug, although they did try.

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