Indonesia's foot-dragging on containing its outbreak of deadly avian flu is putting the world at risk of a human pandemic.

Already the mortality rate from bird flu in the fourth most populous nation is the highest in the world. However, without vigorous action to contain the disease, Indonesia can expect more cases.

The World Health Organization reports 129 human cases of H5N1 flu in the nation of 222 million people since 2005. Of these, 105 were fatal. While the numbers aren't great, the avian disease is spreading to humans and poultry populations, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization is worried.

Human cases of avian flu have been reported in China, Egypt and Vietnam, and there have been poultry outbreaks in Bangladesh and India, indicating that the disease is traveling and mutating.

In Indonesia, where 30 million people still raise chickens in their back yards, the lack of action in combating the disease seems to be due to a shortage of veterinarians, lack of leadership from the decentralized government and indifference from the poultry industry.

As previous outbreaks have shown, this is not a disease to be ignored. Indonesian authorities must recognize the danger and get to work to eradicate it, or risk being isolated by the rest of the world.