This undated electron microscopic (EM) handout image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention depicts a monkeypox virion, obtained from a clinical sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. - AFP
JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): As cases of monkeypox infection in Jakarta have multiplied over the past 10 days, the Health Ministry is on alert for the virus as epidemiologists highlight the importance of tracing.
Indonesia reported six confirmed cases of monkeypox virus since mid-October, an unprecedented increase compared with 2022, when the country recorded the first and only case throughout the year in Jakarta.
The second case was found on Oct 13, the third on Oct 19, and the other four simultaneously on Oct 21. All of the patients are men aged 25 to 35 in Jakarta, according to a press release from the Health Ministry on Monday (Oct 23).
Monkeypox, a zoonotic disease originating from Africa, was initially considered a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization in 2022. It was medically addressed as “mpox” by the WHO to remove any racial stigma.
The virus causes rashes and fever that last two to four weeks and can occasionally (in 3-6 per cent of cases) lead to death. The WHO dropped the emergency status in May of this year following the declining rate of the spread of the virus worldwide.
Indonesia recorded its first confirmed mpox case in August 2022 in Jakarta, detected in a 27-year-old man who contracted the virus overseas. The patient recovered after a month-long isolation in the hospital. But after the second patient was found last week, the Health Ministry reissued a circular letter on Oct 18 to increase vigilance.
“We’re raising our guard, we’ve checked eight other probable patients but they tested negative,” ministry spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
The ministry is also expanding surveillance for the mpox virus across Indonesia, not just in Jakarta.
“We’re investigating them in other provinces and regions, including areas where HIV cases are still a handful,” Siti said.
Although people at risk of the virus are not limited to sexually active people, mpox mostly spread through sexual contact during the global outbreak last year. Thus, the government aims to raise awareness of safe sex and caution among the community, Siti said.
Siti also emphasised that mpox is “an entirely different virus from Covid-19” and should not be a great cause for concern. As mpox spreads through direct skin contact, the virus is easily detected through apparent lesions on the skin.
The WHO’s removal of the international emergency label also meant that the virus could be handled by a country’s medical services, she said. Indonesia is also prepped with 1,000 doses of mpox vaccines at its disposal.
Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, the ministry’s director general of disease control and prevention, said in a statement on Monday that the Jakarta Health Agency will vaccinate around 500 people in the capital who are at risk of catching the virus, starting on Tuesday.
Though some experts have said that mpox is not a major concern, they insist that the government scale up its contact tracing.
“In a way, we’ve technically had a blunder with these local cases. There needs to be more contact tracing,” epidemiologist Dicky Budiman said.
Of the seven current patients of mpox in Indonesia, only the first and third ones had a history of overseas travel. The rest were therefore a result of local transmission, Dicky said.
But while the Health Ministry has been quite responsive, Dicky said it should do more. “This cannot and should not be taken lightly. Every mistake or lack of seriousness during an outbreak will lead to a bigger problem,” he said.
Epidemiologist Masdalina Pane also suggested that the health sectors need to strengthen their outbreak containment.
“What’s currently needed is a quality investigation and containment so as not to let more cases spread. This is what’s still lacking in the field, based on my observation,” she said.
Regardless, Masdalina said she believed that Indonesia would not experience a serious spread of mpox since the virus can be cured in a matter of weeks with a strong immune system and proper isolation.
“Risk analysis shows that the chance of this becoming a widespread outbreak is highly unlikely. Sporadic, maybe, but it’s very much containable,” she said.
