TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The spread of Ebola virus is getting prevalent.
Last Wednesday, the first patient in the United States who was known had died of Ebola. The spread of the disease in Europe has also been reported. Although Indonesia has not seen a similar case, vigilance needs to be improved.
The government cannot prevent the disease only by warnings. More serious preventive measures must be done because we do not have adequate infrastructure to cope with an outbreak that had already spread.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a severe tropical infectious disease. It is transmitted through direct physical contacts or through liquids of the patients. The infected people must be isolated. The mortality rate is high. Of the 100 patients, 90 died.
Currently Ebola has been haunting West African countries, such as Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. An estimated of 3,000 people have died from the virus, mostly due to poor health care.
Chairman of the Institute of Tropical Disease of the Airlangga University, Prof. Dr. Dr. Nasronudin, said that the possibility of transmission of Ebola to Indonesia is relatively big. Human mobility between Indonesia and Africa countries is high. Many Nigerians, for example, visit Indonesia.
Another way that may be a route of the disease entering the country is through the Hajj pilgrimage, which is now under way.
The Saudi Arabian government has banned pilgrims from the four African countries to conduct this year’s Hajj pilgrimage.
However, the possibility of transmission through pilgrims from pilgrims of other countries is very big, considering there are three million people gathering in one place at the same time.
We must be more vigilant to Ebola than to the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) as unlike MERS that is transmitted among animals, Ebola is transmitted among humans.
Unfortunately, the Indonesian government has not made serious precautions. So far the government has been only to impart about the disease, in very limited scopes.
Poise is necessary in order to not spread panic, but that does not mean to underestimate the danger of the disease.
It is true what Nasronudin says: "The government should not just give the news as if it's a small possibility for Ebola to spread (in the country) so people will not panic. It is also mandatory to educate and protect the people."
We can emulate steps taken by the Malaysian government. In addition to giving warnings, they also safeguard every entry point. Passenger checking is done in all major entry points in the country. They have also set the alert status against the virus. The passengers from Ebola affected countries, which show muscle pain and fever, will be immediately quarantined.
Such measures have not been implemented in Indonesia.
Prevention is important because we do not have a strong infrastructure to deal with the virus once it has entered the country and spread here.
Although we have Law No. 4 of 1984 on Outbreaks of Infectious Diseases, at the level of implementation, we are still overwhelmed; for example, quarantine orders in accordance with current legislation harmful when the plague breaks out. We were not able to implement it in full when the bird flu plague broke out.
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