BRIN: The Mpox Transmission Rate Variant Oflade Ib Faster

Passengers from abroad cross the temperature scanner area upon arrival at Terminal 3 of Soetta Airport, Monday, September 2, 2024. (ANTARA PHOTO-Muhammad Iqbal)

JAKARTA - The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) said the monkeypox (Mpox) variant of Clade Ib is indicated to have a faster transmission rate and higher severity, including for the population of children.

"BRIN as a research organization body has one of the responsibilities in efforts to prevent the outbreak/KLB in Indonesia. Further research needs to continue related to epidemiology, transmission and development of new vaccines or therapies in efforts to control Mpox," said Head of the BRIN Health Research Organization Ni Luh Putu Indi Dharmanti in an official statement in Jakarta, Wednesday, September 4, quoted by Antara.

Indi explained that Mpox was influenced by several clades, namely clade Ia, clade lb, and clade Ilb. Clade Ia relates to cases that occur in children and also adults with heavier clinical manifestations.

Meanwhile, clade lb and Ilb, transmission between humans mostly occurs through sexual contact. Strict screening was carried out following the discovery of the Clade Ib variant outside the African region.

He explained that to prevent an increase in Mpox cases, the government took quick action by tightening health checks at state entrances and reactivating the mobility of travelers through the ONESEHAT Health Pass application.

It is known, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government decided to reactivate the early detection system for infectious diseases to prevent the importation of Mpox disease in the country.

This effort is a surveillance strategy pursued by the government in responding to the emergence of a new Mpox strain called 1B, because it is more at risk of being deadly than its predecessor strain, 2B.

"Strain 1B has a higher fatality than the previous one, which is in Indonesia, in Asia, generally 2B. So apparently there are more concerns, because of the new variant whose fatality is close to 10 percent compared to the old variant which is 0.1 percent," he said.

The Electronic Surveillance Card method, said Budi, is the same as the PeduliLindungi Application which was previously implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Everyone who comes from abroad, because Budi, will scan the bar code or QR code, which records travel history, with yellow, green, and red notifications.

The Ministry of Health has prepared two PCR machines that can detect symptoms of Mpox 30-40 minutes, each stored in Jakarta, Cengkareng, and Bali.