Monkeypox Transmitted Through Touch; People Urged to Maintain Health Protocol

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Health Ministry urges the public to avoid direct contact with monkeypox patients as the disease is transmitted through touch. The ministry's spokesperson Mohammad Syahril asked the people to maintain health protocol and implement healthy lifestyle as preventive measures.

The main transmission of monkeypox occurs due to direct contact with sufferers. “So, the health protocol not only applied to prevent Covid-19 but also to prevent all kinds of infectious disease including monkeypox,” Syahril said during an online press conference, August 20.

Monkeypox can be transmitted trough touch with the sufferers, including handshaking, hugging, and sleep together. In fact, transmission also occurs due to contact with items owned by the patients, such as blankets, towels and so on.

However, Syahril said that the people should not be panic as the severity of monkeypox is not worse than Covid-19. If compared to Covid-19 that recorded a 10-15 percent mortality rate, monkeypox only report 1 percent of death from the total case.

Besides, monkeypox is a self-limiting disease if there are no comorbid factors or other aggravating factors. “Monkeypox is a self limiting disease. In its 21-28-day incubation, the patients will recover on their own if there are no additional infections or super infections," he said.

The Health Ministry has previously announced the first monkeypox case in Indonesia on Saturday, August 20. The 27-year-old patient was confirmed positive for the disease after undergoing a PCR test two days before the result came out.

“The person has just traveled from abroad,” he said.

Eka Yudha Saputra

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