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A blog or two ago, I mentioned that the people of Indonesia would tire of incessant government denials, lies and subterfuge in the battle against H5N1 avian influenza.

A letter writer in the Jakarta Post gives a chronicle of the frustrations Bali islanders must be feeling right now regarding their island paradise's descent into Bird Flu Hell. 

First, veteran blogger FLA_MEDIC has reported that another Bali child is sick and in hospital with symptoms of bird flu.  His post can be found here. http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-suspect-case-in-bali.html

Now the excellent public health blogsite and forum Effect Measure, recently affiliated with ScienceBlogs.com, has revealed an unbelievable letter from a resident of Bali.  The blog and letter can be found here. http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2007/08/bird_flu_in_indonesia_these_ne.php

In a nutshell, Giuseppe Verdacchi, a resident of the capital city (!) of Denpasar, reports to the Post about his frustrating inability to get any government official on Bali to help him dispose of a dead wild bird he found on his property.  particularly enlightening is the admonishment of his village leader.  Quoting from the blog/letter:

I tried then to contact the head of my village (in the Kerobokan area) and his reaction was: "Just bury the bird, there is no problem." How would he know?

As the "Reveres" of Effect Measure so eloquently and accurately point out:

Mind you, this is the country with more cases and more bird flu deaths than any other country in the world. The island of Bali, a major tourist area, has had two recent deaths from bird flu. The Indonesian authorities have been vocal and self-righteous about other countries profiting from influenza virus sequence information and viral isolates obtained from cases within their borders and for this reason do not consistently share this information with the world scientific community. Yet at the same time, through negligence, corruption and incompetence Indonesian authorities allow a continuous breeding ground for a virus that threatens everyone on the globe.

With the hospitalization of today's patient, the list of suspected H5N1 cases in Bali grows to 12.  Five have been sent home with negative test results; four are dead, and we are awaiting results of tests on the last death; and three remain hospitalized, awaiting test results.  And with the exception of the index case and her mother, the remaining cases are all within 20 km of the capital city.