SARS declared a national epidemic threat<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
At least five alleged cases of the potentially fatal disease
\nknown as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have been
\nreported in Indonesia, prompting the government to declare SARS a
\nnational epidemic threat.<\/p>\n
In a bid to prevent SARS from spreading further around the
\ncountry, Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi is expected to issue a
\nministerial decree on Thursday to implement Law No. 4\/1984 on
\nepidemic diseases.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a press conference after a ministerial
\ncoordination meeting at the office of the coordinating minister
\nfor people's welfare, Sujudi said on Tuesday that the government
\nhad appointed certain hospitals as SARS clinics.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta those hospitals are the Infectious Disease Hospital
\n(RSPI) in Sunter, North Jakarta and Persahabatan Hospital in
\nRawamangun, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
In other provinces, regional administration-owned hospitals
\nand educational hospitals -- not private hospitals -- were
\nappointed as SARS clinics.<\/p>\n
Sujudi disclosed on Tuesday that the government had recorded
\nthree alleged SARS cases.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, however, Director General of Communicable
\nDiseases Eradication and Environment Health Umar Fahmi Achmadi
\nsaid that another two alleged SARS cases were found in Semarang,
\nCentral Java, and in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"All cases are alleged to be SARS. Three patients have been
\nisolated in hospitals, one died and one is isolated at home after
\ndemanding to leave a hospital on Tuesday evening,\" he told the
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The government has three categories for those who have
\nsymptoms similar to SARS: alleged, suspected or confirmed.<\/p>\n
Alleged SARS cases are those who return from SARS-prone
\ncountries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam or China, and have
\nno known history of contact with a SARS patient, but suffer from
\nflu or flu-like symptoms.<\/p>\n
A suspected SARS case means people have come into contact with
\na SARS patient, but have no specific SARS symptoms.<\/p>\n
The first alleged SARS case occurred to an Indonesian female
\nmigrant worker who arrived in Batam, Riau, from Singapore earlier
\nthis week with flu-like symptoms.<\/p>\n
She was immediately taken by seaport health officials to
\nOtorita Batam Hospital for further diagnosis.<\/p>\n
The second case is a woman who was recently visited by someone
\nfrom Singapore. Later, she was found ill and now is hospitalized
\nat RSPI.<\/p>\n
The third hit a former migrant worker who later died of
\nmultiple organ failure at the Jakarta Islamic Hospital (RSIJ) in
\nCempaka Putih, Central Jakarta. The lung X-ray results, however,
\nshowed no sign of any pneumonia.<\/p>\n
The fourth struck an ill migrant worker that was brought in to
\nRSPI but she demanded to leave the hospital and returned home to
\nSubang, West Java, according to RSPI.<\/p>\n
The last alleged case befell a migrant worker returning from
\nHong Kong, who was coughing, with high fever and brought to
\nKaryadi Hospital in Semarang on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
\"She is now quarantined under serious observation,\" Karyadi
\nHospital spokesman Jayadi.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in Batam, the Batam authorities have given all
\nschools in the territory a four-day vacation starting Thursday to
\ntry to prevent an outbreak of SARS.<\/p>\n
Umar went on to say that the government had asked the Centers
\nfor Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of Atlanta, in the
\nUnited States to conduct medical tests on the five alleged SARS
\ncases.<\/p>\n
He also said that his office received a letter from Indonesian
\nEmbassy in Hong Kong on Tuesday reporting an Indonesian migrant
\nworker who had positively contracted SARS and was now
\nhospitalized at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the country where
\n530 people were infected and 13 have died as of March 31.<\/p>\n
To give information on SARS, the government has a hotline at
\nRSPI for the public: 62-21-6506568. For more information one can
\nvisit the World Health Organization website at www.who.int or the
\nCDC website at www.cdc.gov.<\/p>",
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