Efforts By The Ministry Of Health To Detect Symptoms Of Monkeypox Virus In Indonesia

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JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) has anticipated the spread of the monkeypox virus or monkeypox in Indonesia. A total of 12 laboratories have been prepared for further examination of those exposed to the virus.

Acting Director General of P2P of the Ministry of Health, Yudhi Pramono in a press conference held online in Jakarta, Sunday, August 18, said the dozens of laboratories were scattered in a number of major cities divided into several regions.

Quoting ANTARA, the regional area I laboratory is located at the Public Health Laboratory Center of Medan City, North Sumatra, regional area II in Batam City, Riau Islands.

Regional IV is located in Jakarta and Pangandaran, West Java, regional V is located in Yogyakarta and Magelang, Central Java, regional VI is located in the city of Surabaya, East Java, regional VII on the island of Kalimantan, namely the city of Banjarbaru, East Kalimantan.

Then, regional VIII Center for Community Health Laboratory in Makassar and regional XI in Papua.

Most of the regions have been equipped with or provided reagents for Mpox examination. Meanwhile, according to Yudhi, regional III (South Sumatra), regional IX (Maluku), and regional X (North Maluku) are still in the process of being provided.

The Ministry of Health is optimistic that efforts to mitigate the spread of the Mpox virus in Indonesia can be maximized through the preparation of the health laboratory because the results can be known in detail, and affect treatment efforts.

On the other hand, Yudhi said public awareness who quickly examined himself if he was sick similar to the symptoms of Mpox to health facilities was also a supporting thing.

Symptoms of Mpox or monkeypox are rashes and lesions on the face, hands, feet, body, eyes, mouth or genitals. Then, other symptoms are fever, lymph node swelling, headaches, sluggishness, muscle and back pain.

"Of the 54 confirmed cases of Mpox in Indonesia that meet the criteria, WGS is carried out, all of them come from the clade IIb group in 2022 until now with lower fatality," he said.*