Epidemic in a number of countries, can the monkey smallpox virus be prevented from entering Indonesia?

In the midst of the unfinished COVID-19 pandemic, monkeypox is now spreading in a number of countries. Along with that, the Indonesian Ministry of Health reported that until now monkeypox has not been found in Indonesia. So, can monkeypox be prevented from entering Indonesia?

Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman from Australia’s Griffith University explained that screening and blockades at state entrances basically only work to reduce the risk of entering patients into state areas. However, he noted, monkeypox patients need an incubation period of up to 3 weeks until symptoms appear. This condition often becomes an obstacle for detection.

“Especially with monkeypox, whose incubation period can be up to three weeks, it allows him to go anywhere or enter a permanent country, only in the fourth week he appears and he is already in the region,” he explained in the online discussion ‘A Step Towards a Pandemic Reviewing the COVID Vaccination Program- 19 and Preparedness for Pandemic to Endemic Transition’, Wednesday (25/5/2022).

“That’s what often goes undetected, so literacy is important. Building this literacy builds risk perception and not just a communication problem,” continued Dicky.

Furthermore, according to him, the health system is the capital to respond to infectious diseases between countries. In addition, three main things that can be done to deal with monkeypox outbreaks that have been reported in a number of countries are early detection, isolation, and vaccination. The rest, quarantine in close contact cases.

“Any disease that is transmitted between the country’s borders, which can be handled, the response is a strong health system. Now this is our homework, even globally,” explained Dicky.

“When it comes to the health system, there is funding, detection capability, and infrastructure. We have started to build this from now on without being a post-pandemic and not only looking at COVID-19,” he concluded.

Watch Videos “WHO’s explanation of the Monkeypox Symptoms Phase“
[Gambas:Video 20detik]
(vyp/kna)

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