Indonesian Govt Reports 100% Recovery of Mpox Cases

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said that 88 people with monkeypox (Mpox) clade IIB in Indonesia have recovered. These Mpox cases have been recorded since 2022. 

"One hundred percent (of Mpox patients) have recovered in Indonesia," Budi told the media crew at the West Hall of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

According to Minister Budi, the dangerous and deadly Mpox variant is the subclade 1. Many African countries reported deaths caused by this variant. Sweden and Thailand also have reported cases of Mpox subclade 1. 

Minister Budi considered the Mpox outbreak as less severe compared to the COVID-19 outbreak. Mpox spread through direct human-to-human contact, similar to HIV. "We are not too worried about the transmission, droplet transmission is a rare case,” he said.

The Ministry of Health has also distributed Mpox screening tools and materials throughout Indonesia. Among those is a rapid screening tool in which results are available within 30 minutes. The tool has been used in places like Jakarta and Bali.

Mpox vaccines are also available and will be given for free to vulnerable groups. "This vaccine is not for everyone," said Budi Gunadi. 

Not a Side Effect of COVID-19

Previously, the government denied the link between monkeypox and the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Mohammad Syahril, said Mpox and COVID-19 are two distinct viruses.

Based on information from the World Health Organization (WHO), the first case of Mpox in humans was reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970. The case became endemic in western and central Africa, such as South Africa, Ivory Coast, Congo, Nigeria, and Uganda.

As it spread, WHO declared Mpox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on July 23, 2022. The status was revoked on May 11, 2023. The PHEIC status was re-established due to a spike in Mpox cases in Central and West Africa, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and several countries in Africa. Mpox also spreads to other continents. 

According to Syahril, Mpox is transmitted through direct human-to-human contact. Based on global reports, 96 percent of Mpox cases are identified in men, and as much as 60 percent are identified in men who have sex with other men (MSM). Mpox transmissions are also reported in children with close contact with the infected.

"Direct contact such as shaking hands, holding hands, including sexual contact," he said in a written statement on September 2.

ANWAR SISWADI

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