Indonesia On Alert For Swine Flu
Monday, 27 April, 2009 | 15:40 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The government has instructed a nation-wide alert for a possible swine influenza virus in Indonesia. According to the Disease Control and Environmental Health director-general, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, a circular from his department has gone out to all health offices, including those in port areas throughout Indonesia. “This is a pre-emptive measure. We don’t know what the situation will be like,” Tjandra said, contacted by Tempo yesterday.



On Saturday, the Disease Control and Environmental Health Directorate General gathered all port administrators from around the country in Makassar, South Sulawesi to brief them on the swine flu outbreak. “They were all in Makassar to attend a simulation of the Avian Flu Pandemic,” Tjandra said.



Tjandra added that his department was also cooperating with the Agriculture Department to form a team to handle any cases of zoonosis (human diseases contracted from animals). This was confirmed by the Livestock director-general, Tjeppy D. Soedjana.



Tjeppy said that his department’s Office of Quarantine will focus on foreign tourists arriving from Mexico and the US. “They could be bringing the disease with them,” he said, last Saturday.


Tjandra explained that the swine virus was caused by the influenza virus type A, sub-type H1N1. The virus can be spread through animals, especially pigs, and it is possible to infect humans by air and by direct contact with patients, following a 3 – 5 day incubation period.



“In general, this disease is similar to influenza. It has the same clinical symptoms,” Tjandra said. The symptoms are high temperature, coughing, flu, tiredness, sore throat, breathing problems and possibly vomiting and diarrhea. “We can anticipate and prevent the spread by living cleanly,” he said.


The World Health Organization (WHO) had previously announced that the swine flu incident had become a public health emergency case of international concern. The virus had spread from Mexico to Texas, Kansas and California in the US.


In Mexico, according to Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova, up until yesterday, the swine flu had killed at least 20 people. Around 80 others are suspected of having died because of the same disease. The local government has tested more than 1.300 people with flu symptoms to see whether they had been infected by the swine flu. Most of the victims were between 25 – 45 years old.



Meanwhile in the US, as reported by Reuters yesterday, 11 swine flu cases were found in California, Kansas, and Texas. According to local health officials, eight students in New York have been found to have symptoms similar to that of the swine flu.



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