Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Seven people from the village of Sumbul in North Sumatra were hospitalized yesterday with bird flu symptoms.

The health authorities are adopting caution while they wait for results. "There are two clusters, one with two sisters aged six and 10 years, the other with three family members, and another two of their neighbours," Health Ministry official Nyoman Kandun said.

Several chickens in the area have been killed by the H5N1 virus. Sumbul is only five km away from the village of Kubu Sembelang, also in Karo regency, where the first human to human case of contagion was confirmed in May among seven members of the same family. At the time the World Health Organisation had put the infection down to a particular genetic predisposition and weakness in that family: in fact, no other people in the village had been infected.

Indonesia is the country hardest hit by the H5N1 virus, with 42 certified deaths. The violence is held to be endemic and the authorities have failed to control outbreaks among birds. It is only now that People's Welfare Ministry coordinator, Aburizal Bakrie, announced government plans to cull poultry within a five-km radius of the location of a human or bird death; so far, the stipulated radius has been 1km.The government also plans to increase compensation for owners from Rp 10,000 (US$1.10) to Rp 12,500 for each bird.

But bird flu is also worrying other countries in Southeast Asia, and not only.

Thailand: More than 310,000 chickens were recently culled in Nakhon Panom in the north-east, where Bangkok believes the infection was caused by an egg imported from bordering Laos. Bangkok has offered to help its neighbour: on 1 August, a delegation went to Vientiane to agree on shared interventions against infective outbreaks.

Laos: On 1 August, infection was confirmed in two farms of Vientiane. Last week, more than 2,500 chickens died in a breeding farm 25km from the capital. More than 19,000 chickens were culled to contain the epidemic. The sale and consumption of poultry have been banned. At the moment, FAO is investigating to find out whether the infection is linked to that in Thailand.

Europe: In Holland, 25,000 chickens in a breeding farm in Gelderland will be culled. The Dutch Agriculture Ministry said yesterday that the farm had been struck by a "mild" form of the virus. A ban on transport of eggs and poultry within a three-km radius has been imposed while precautions are being taken in all the poultry farms in the region.