Syphilic Patients Increase 70 Percent In 5 Years, Ministry Of Health: Avoid Risky Sex Behavior

ILLUSTRATION OF DOK VOI

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) asks all people to remain loyal to their respective partners and avoid risky sex behavior as an effort to prevent the transmission of widespread syphilic diseases.

"I urge married couples to be loyal to their partners to avoid risky sex. Unregistered people should use safety to avoid things that can be risky for health and mental growth," said Ministry of Health spokesman Mohammad Syahril as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, May 11.

Syahril reminded that the symptoms of the king of lions are a Sexually Infectious Infection (IMS) caused by a bacteria called Treponema Pallidum. Syphilics can not only be transmitted through sexual relations between partners or the same sex, but also from mothers to children who are not yet born.

Not to mention that transmission can occur due to risky sexual intercourse behavior, such as not using a safety in the form of condoms and having anal or oral sex by same-sex couples. Based on data from the Ministry of Health from 2016 to 2022, the number of people affected by symptoms increased from 12 thousand cases to almost 21 thousand cases. With the average addition of 17,000 to 20,000 cases.

Then in the case of pregnant women, there is only about 40 percent of pregnant women with syphilics that have been successfully treated. Whereas the siphilics can infect the child that is carried through the placenta or blood flow. In addition, it also has the potential to transmit and cause defects in the child who was born.

Syahril thus asked the public to work together to break the syphilic chain between generations, by immediately screening, avoiding unprotected sex, and removing bad stigma about syphilic patients so that patients are eager to continue treatment.

"Syphilics can also infect a child or baby through breast milk given by their mother. So we need to be vigilant, there should be no pregnant women who are not detected as syphilic. If there are allegations of sexual behavior (risk is carried out) to the person concerned or partner, it must be immediately discriminated," said Syahril.

Confirmed separately, the Director of Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases at the Ministry of Health, Imran Pambudi, added that his party had opened access to IMS services to peripherers.

The treatment of the IMS program has penetrated to the furthest puskesmas in Indonesia and the Ministry of Health has intensified training for IMS and HIV services.

She said that all pregnant women were screened for HIV, syphilic, and hepatitis B, which is known as the elimination prototype program for pregnant women by targeting housewives and finding active cases in male sex customers with IMS symptoms.

"In other areas that experience high syphilic transmission in key populations, such as men who have sex with men (NGOs), we have also notified a couple in cases of sifilis, and found and treatment of early cases so as to reduce morbidity and transmission. Syphilic diagnosis tools are also available in the following health care facilities for treatment," said Imran.