RI TIGHTENING CONTROL OVER SWINE FLU

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, June 30 (ANTARA) - While the global number of swine flu cases has reached 70,893 and the death toll 311, Indonesian authorities are tightening controls at international gates following the entry into the country of the disease last week.

        Since the announcement last week by Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari of two first swine flu cases in Indonesia, the number of cases in the country has now reached eight, all of which are imported ones.

        Therefore, the Indonesian government is stepping up its efforts to prevent the spread of the disease by conducting checks at airports. It will step up checks on pilots and crew arriving from abroad to anticipate the swine flu threat.

        "Tightened control will especially be done at international airports such as Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta," the administrator of the Soekarno-Hatta airport, Edward A Silooy, said.

        Edward A Silooy said checks would be done using a body scanner on pilots and cabin crew before they leave the airport. "The checks will be a must for pilots and cabin crew," he said.

        Besides that the government will also require all people arriving in Indonesia from countries affected by the H1N1 strain of virus to use face masks for at least three days as a precaution against the spread of the disease.

        "People coming from affected countries will have to wear face masks for three days as the incubation period of the disease is at least three days," Minister Supari said after attending a coordination ministerial meeting on the prevention of the swine flu on Monday.

        The government would soon allocate funds for the disposable masks to be made available at international airports and seaports. "The funds are being collected, not only for the mask supply. Parts of the funds are from the budgets for the health ministry and the Bird Flu National Commission," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said.

        The same precautionary efforts will also be made at the venues of international events. The government will apply certain fixed procedures to prevent the spread of swine flu during international events to take place in Indonesia this year.

        "In the coming few months, there will be two international events involving many foreign participants, namely 'Sail Bunaken' in Manado, and an AIDS Conference in Bali. Special measures will be applied to the events to prevent the spread of this disease (swine flu)," Aburizal Bakrie said.

        All visitors from countries affected by swine flu will be required to pass thermal scanners installed in international airports, fill in health alert cards, and use face masks for at least three days since their arrivals, he said.

        According to Silooy, pilots and air crew were vulnerable to spread of a swine flu virus particularly those serving overseas routes. "The move is taken to anticipate spread of the virus through pilots and air crew. They are vulnerable to swine flu infection. The tightening of health checks will be done continuously to prevent spread of the virus," he said.

        The government has also made the necessary efforts to handle if a patient is found to have contracted the swine flu virus.

        "If there is a visitor suspected of being infected (with swine flu), he/she will be immediately taken to a reference hospital. Some reference hospitals are ready, and the number will be increased," Minister Bakrie said.

        Minister Bakrie said the government also set up a coordination post on the prevention of the disease. The coordination post is based at the coordinating minister for people's welfare office. "This is to monitor and report every step on Influenza A control, to support the existing Health Post," he said.

        The same efforts have also been made by the health ministry. Minister Supari said that the government has intensified surveillance in all health facilities such as hospitals, health posts, and laboratories.

        The government has also prepared logistics, anti-virus medicines and human resources. "We have adequate Tamiflu, but I cannot give you the detail," the minister said.

        So far, Indonesia has detected eight cases of swine flu. Of the eight swine flu patients, four are foreigners and another four are Indonesians coming from swine flu-affected nations. Seven of them are currently being hospitalized and one has recovered.

        "Of the eight cases, six are new ones where three cases involved Australians and other three are Indonesians. But all of the cases are imported ones," Minister Supari said.

        The Australians infected with the virus are now in Bali, namely GC (12), MT (14) and JA (10) while the Indonesian victims are identified as AG (18) and her brother TP (19) and a woman AM (22).

        "AG and TP have just returned from Singapore and AM from Australia. The three Indonesians are being treated at the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Hospital in Jakarta.

        Two patients were previously declared positively carriers of H1N1 virus namely Bobie Masoner (22) and an Indonesian pilot identified as WA (37). Masoner was treated in Bali while WA in Jakarta.***3*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/A/S012) 20:45/...... )

        (T.A014/A/A014/A/S012) 30-06-2009 21:02:42

INDONESIA ALERTED IN FACE OF POSSIBLE SWINE FLU EPIDEMIC

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 28 (ANTARA) - As suspected swine flu cases have reached Australia and New Zealand while at least 100 human deaths have been reported in North America, Indonesia is now alerting its citizens and taking the necessary steps to prevent the spread of the disease in the country.

         In Jakarta, Secretary-General of ASEAN Surin Pitsuwan has directed his officials to convene the ASEAN Secretariat Working Group to monitor and assess the current situation and plan immediate actions.

         The ASEAN Secretariat will closely monitor the situation and work closely with the ASEAN Member States and partner organizations to take appropriate measures including the effective sharing of information and strengthening of cross border collaboration.

         Following the World Health Organization (WHO)'s declaration of the swine influenza outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern (PHIC), President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called for swift and correct measures to deal with its potential spread.

         As preventive measures, Indonesia temporarily stops importing pigs and installed swine flu surveillance devices in ten entry points of airports and seaports. "We must take  swift and correct actions. We must really start to do everything  necessary, including controlling and checking planes from the US and Mexico as well as other countries that have been contaminated by the disease," President Yudhoyono told an unscheduled limited cabinet meeting on Monday.

         All ministries are alerted and called on not to treat the matter lightly although it has not yet spread to Asia. The health minister must take anticipatory measures so that the people are prepared in case the disease spread to the country.

         Coordinating Minister for People Welfare has said the government is prepared to anticipate the disease through simulations that have been carried out when dealing with bird flu. As the death rate in bird flu cases was higher than in swine flu cases he said simulations for dealing with bird flu were considered sufficient.

         According to the WHO, the H1N1 swine virus can spread fast. But the moves to prevent its spread must not be overdone  so as not to  cause panic. "We do it as usual but everyone must be prepared," President Yudhoyono said.

         Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari meanwhile called on the people to remain calm. "The swine influenza which is caused by the H1N1 virus in those countries occurs in the fall and winter but not in the summer. In Indonesia it is hot all the time and therefore we hope  an epidemic will not happen in our country," she said.

        Although no swine flu case has so far been  reported in Indonesia, the government has an adequate capacity to anticipate it. Since the outbreak of bird flu in Indonesia in 2005, the government has made every possible effort to anticipate it and to prevent it from spreading nationwide.

        After all, the government has prepared various supporting facilities including public health clinics, hospitals, laboratories, influenza surveillance networks, communication networks among related parties, and training for hospital staff  and volunteers.

         "We are considered to have made progress in bird flu management, and we have conducted bird-flu handling simulations several times. And our ability to manage bird flu epidemics can also be used to anticipate the spread of other diseases such as swine flu," Aburizal Bakrie said meanwhile.

         The other effort made by the Indonesian government is intensifying surveillance in pig farming center regions. Bakrie said that actually, this disease exists in Indonesia but does not attack human victims.

         "In spite of this fact, preventive steps needs to be taken. Regions with high pig population will continue to be monitored. Monitoring will be carried out on Pigs or human," Bakrie said.

         Intensive surveillance on the wine flue in pig farming regions will be carried out by reactivating the existing monitoring means in bird flu bases.

         "Intensive surveillance will be carried out on pig farming centers, whose number I think is small. We will reactivate 84 sentinels now already available to handle the matter so that they would send us data," Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said.

         She said that the government would provide the needed equipment and resources for sentinels at hospitals in order to increase alertness over the possible spread of swine flue virus which in North America had mutated and could fast spread from human to human.

         In the meantime, Director General for Disease Control of the Ministry of Health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama said that experts had detected the presence of a virus strain of type A flu, sub-type of H1N1 virus, which infected human and pigs.

        "The H1NI virus causes common flu. But because the strain of the H1N1 virus which spread in Mexico is different from the strain of common H1N1 virus which infected humans and pigs, it spread fast and is expected to have mutated,"  Aditama said. (T.A014/A/H-NG/f001) 28-04-2009 10:43:36