If there is 1 case, it must be declared an extraordinary event

KOMPAS.com – The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) stated that cases of monkey pox in Indonesia until now has not been found.

According to the Director General of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) of the Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, although previously there were 15 suspected monkeypox, all of them were declared negative.

“The (suspected cases) have been examined (the results are) negative. So they are no longer suspects. But I don’t know yet update for the diagnosis of what disease,” said Maxi as reported Kompas.comMonday (8/8/2022).

Read also: Independent Isolation Due to Monkeypox, What to Pay Attention to?

In connection with the undiscovered monkeypox or monkeypoxHead of the Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia (FKUI) Dr. dr. Retno Asti Werdhani, M.Epid, said that one confirmed case must be declared as extraordinary event (KLB) in the region.

“If there is one confirmed case of monkeypox in one area, because we started with zero (cases), we consider only one case an outbreak. zero cases,” said Retno in webinar titled Indonesia Beware of Outbreaks Monkeypox which was held by Continuing Medical Education (CME) FKUI, Tuesday (9/8/2022).

Just like Covid-19, identification of close contacts with suspected, probable, and confirmed cases must also be carried out.

Thus, it can be known who will be categorized in the three classifications of monkeypox.

Until now, he said, monkeypox is an endemic disease in Africa. However, monkeypox outbreaks have now been identified in at least 88 countries in the world.

“We know where the endemic (monkeypox) is, so if we find suspected or probable patients, after that we ask if there is a travel history to these endemic countries, now we can suspect and refer to the next examination,” added Retno.

Identification of suspects, probable, and confirmed cases

Doctor Retno said that it was necessary to ensure that there were suspects, probable and confirmations. Therefore, it is important for primary care to identify early on, the category of patients who present with monkeypox symptoms.

“That needs to be done so that we can immediately be referred for a PCR laboratory confirmation examination,” he said.

Those belonging to the category of suspect, probable, and confirmed must undergo isolation for up to 21 days. If the PCR result is negative, it is included in the discarded category.

To note, discarded is a suspected or probable case with negative PCR results and/or monkeypox sequencing.

On the other hand, epidemiological investigations carried out case identification and tracing of close contacts. During monitoring, the contact must not donate blood, cells, tissues, organs, breast milk, or semen so that there is no risk of transmitting the virus to others.

Read also: Is it true that monkey pox can be transmitted through sexual intercourse?

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