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Pigs have tested positive for bird flu in the same village on Indonesia's Sumatra Island where five people have been confirmed infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus, a minister said yesterday.

 

The case involving up to seven family members, six of whom have died, has raised alarm around the world because authorities cannot rule out human-to-human transmission.

 

But the World Health Organization (WHO) and Indonesian health officials had been frustrated by the lack of evidence pointing to a source of the virus, usually infected poultry.

 

The WHO confirmed on Wednesday that five members of the family had contracted H5N1 and tests on a sixth were pending.

 

Officials had said earlier that on-the-spot testing of various animals living around Kubu Simbelang village in North Sumatra Province had given negative results for avian influenza.

 

However, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono told reporters yesterday the pig samples from the village had been brought to a leading animal research center on Java Island, and scientists there found a positive result for bird flu.

 

"After we brought them to Bogor, the serology test found positive results. From 11 pig samples, 10 are positive. Reconfirmation testings are still underway," he said, but did not specify the H5N1 virus.

 

Bogor is a West Java city where a veterinarian institute is located.

 

The minister's comments are likely to concern health officials. Pigs can act as mixing vessels in which human and bird flu viruses can swap genes, leading to a strain that can easily infect people and pass from person to person.

 

(China Daily May 19, 2006)