Surabaya, CNN Indonesia —
Medical team at Covid-19 emergency hospital Surabaya, or the Indrapura Field Hospital (RSLI), found a strange phenomenon from a number of Covid-19 patient who is being treated there. They were patients from the Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) group who had just returned to East Java.
The person in charge of the RSLI, First Admiral Dr. Ahmad Samsulhadi said that one of the patients showed a very low CT Value, which was at 1.8. It is feared that this is a sign of a new mutation of Covid-19 infection.
“Because we found a CT value of 1.8 in one patient,” said Samsulhadi, Wednesday (8/9).
CT value or cycle threshold value is a value that appears in the PCR test. CT value PCR serves to determine the status of whether a person is positive or negative related to Covid-19 virus infection.
In addition, the CT value can also show the possible amount of corona virus in the body and determine the patient’s risk for experiencing complications or severe symptoms of Covid-19.
Age found low results, the team also repeated the PCR swab test to the patient for up to 12 days of treatment. However, he continued, the patient’s CT value still showed the number 1.8.
Not only in one person, Samsulhadi said that low CT values were also found in a number of other PMI patients. The low CT Value continued even to the 10th day they were treated.
“After repeated, it turns out that the value is still 1.8. Also some PMI patients who have been treated for 10 days, but the CT Value is still below 15,” he said.
According to Samsulhadi, this is a new phenomenon as well as a strange thing that his party found. A number of doctors at RSLI also continue to work to follow up.
“Because of this strange phenomenon, I have asked Dr Fauqa to follow up,” he said.
Similarly, the Doctor in Charge of RSLI Services, Fauqa Arinil Aulia, said that his party recently found a number of patients with low CT values tend to be extreme.
This finding even contradicts the findings and theories of Covid-19 cases previously found at RSLI. Where the CT value of the patient will gradually increase and improve towards the 2nd week of treatment.
“Even though in theory, in other variants, the progress is good, the CT Value has increased. Even the 13th day has been negative. Whereas now it’s actually the opposite, the second week seems to have started to attack again, with indications of the CT Value being still low, below 25 even in under 5,” said Fauqa.
With this finding, Fauqa said that his party was currently wary of the MU variant. This type of Covid-19 mutation B.1.621 is known to have infected more than 39 countries. This MU variant is said to have vaccine resistance.
“As recently released by WHO, namely the Mu variant, which includes the Variant of Interest (VoI), now its development has hit more than 39 countries,” he said.
Although wary, he said, this Mu variant is nothing to worry about. Because this mutation is included in VoI, or its nature does not change from clinical symptoms, the development of the disease and also the way of treatment is still the same.
What is worried is the Variant of Concern (VoC), for example the Delta variant, and the Variant of High Consequence (VoHC), which has not yet been proven to exist.
“Yesterday’s Delta variant included VoC, as we know yesterday it was very excited, the outbreak was widespread and those infected with Delta, the average CT Value value was below 25, and some were extreme below 5,” he said.
Even so, RSLI will treat these patients holistically. It will also continue to monitor if there is a potential for patients with low CT values to be infected with new variants.
“We have followed up and sent 78 samples for whole genome sequencing (WGS) with the aim of knowing in more detail the characteristics of the virus. And until now we are still waiting for the results of the laboratory tests. The process is at the Tropical Disease Center (TDC) Universitas Airlangga (Unair),” he said.
Meanwhile, RSLI itself is currently treating 157 patients out of a total of 410 available beds. They consisted of 8 general/independent patients while the remaining 149 were from Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI). PMI who are treated at the RSLI, mostly come from Hong Kong, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and others.
(frd/DAL)
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