TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Saleh Partaonan Daulay, deputy chairman of Commission IX overseeing health at the House of Representatives, said that the government must clarify the alleged an anthrax virus outbreak in Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta.
“There has been a rumor that [the virus] caused a casualty,” Saleh said in Jakarta on Monday, January 23, 2017.
According to Saleh, the Health Ministry has already taken samples and conducted a lab test. However, the Ministry has not released any official announcement regarding the results. “This surely raises some questions,” Saleh claimed.
The National Mandate Party (PAN) politician stated that reports on anthrax outbreak should not be taken lightly, especially since the information on the spread of the disease was still unclear. “If it’s true, it can certainly create fear and dismay," Saleh added
Saleh argued that the Indonesian medical community has not been familiar yet with anthrax, as well as the cure needed by victims of an anthrax outbreak.
Saleh urges the government to study anthrax outbreak cases that have taken place abroad, and synthetize its cure.
“If I’m not mistaken, back in 2002, a researcher from Rockefeller University in new York claimed to have discovered a cure to overcome anthrax. The PlyG Lysin has been tested with positive results. But the follow-up of the research isn’t known. This needs to be followed through,” Saleh suggested.
Reports on anthrax outbreak emerged in Yogyakarta after 16 patients were indicated to have been infected by the virus at Purwosari Village, Kulon Progo District. The Agiculture Ministry's Directorate General of Livestock and Animal Health had sent a team to investigate the case.
AHMAD FAIZ