Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari confirmed Wednesday the first two positive cases of H1N1 flu in Indonesia, though doubts remain whether the testing for the infection was done properly. Siti said the ministry had detected H1N1 viral infections in two patients — W.A., a 37 year-old pilot now being treated at Sulianti Saroso Hospital for Infectious Diseases in North Jakarta, and B.M., a 22 year-old UK citizen currently being treated at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, Bali. “B.M. has tested positive for H1N1,” Siti said at a press conference at the Health Ministry, as quoted by kompas.com. “W.A. had just returned from Australia on June 14 and Hong Kong on June 18. “He’s still being treated in an isolation chamber in Sulianti Saroso, and remains in good condition. ”These are the first confirmed cases of the much-feared H1N1 strain of the influenza A virus in the country. There have been more than 50,000 cases of infections worldwide, with at least 237 people killed, before Wednesday’s announcement. Earlier this month, the World Health Organization raised the alert level for the H1N1 virus to its possible highest level, after finding the virus was spreading in a sustained manner in communities in the eight most heavily hit countries — Australia, the UK, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Spain and the United States. Dien Emmawati, head of the Jakarta Health Agency, also confirmed a case had been registered at Sulianti Saroso Hospital, adding W.A. was a resident of Bintaro, Tangerang, just west of the capital, and had been undergoing treatment at the hospital since June 20. She said her agency had responded by distributing 73,000 doses of Tamiflu, the WHO-recommended drug to combat the H1N1 infection, to every community health center in the city. Dien added her agency was working closely with Port Health Offices at Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Tangerang, to prevent more possible flu patients slipping into the country from abroad. Sri Purwati, head of quarantine at the Soekarno-Hatta Health Office, said her staff had been on 24-hour alert with thermal scanners to make sure nobody infected with the flu would get through undetected. She denied her office had failed to detect W.A.’s infection, saying the virus might have only developed after he had passed through the airport. Questions remain over whether all proper procedures had been taken prior to the minister making the announcement. The Jakarta Post was unable to clarify how the patients were tested positive for H1N1, since lab results for the virus usually take weeks to be confirmed after blood samples are taken from the patient to the Health Ministry’s research and development office in Jakarta. Furthermore, hospitals would still have to keep the patient for another seven days before releasing them, even if they tested negative. Dr. Sardikin Girisaputra, director of Sulianti Saroso Hospital, confirmed W.A. had been admitted on June 20, just four days before the Health Minister’s announcement, saying he had initially complained of high fever and incessant coughing. “We decided to put him in the isolation chamber just to make sure the infection didn’t spread, in case he did have the virus,” Sardikin said. When asked whether W.A. was definitely infected with H1N1, the health professional said, “If the minister said he’s positive, then he's positive.”
Author: Andra Wisnu, The Jakarta Post
Author: Andra Wisnu, The Jakarta Post
