Hand-foot-mouth disease returns, invades schools

Hand-foot-mouth disease returns, invades schools

JAKARTA (JP): Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) returned to
Jakarta and affected a number of kindergartens and elementary
schools in Jakarta recently.

Several preschools in Jakarta, including the Harapan Ibu
preschool in Pondok Pinang, South Jakarta, the Kinderland
preschool in West Jakarta and the Pembangunan Jaya elementary
school in Bintaro, South Jakarta, have temporarily shut down
school activities for up to a week due to the contagious disease.

The Kinderland found that seven of its pupils were suffering
from the disease and decided to close on Wednesday as a
preventive measure for the others.

"Although parents did not voice any concerns, we decided to
temporarily close our school. We will fumigate and thoroughly
clean the school to banish the disease," the principal of the
school, who refused to be named, told The Jakarta Post on
Wednesday.

When the students return to school next Monday, Kinderland
will closely monitor the children, and those who show even the
slightest symptoms will be sent home.

"Otherwise, all the sterilization carried out over the next
few days will have been ineffective," the principal said.

Harapan Ibu discovered two pupils with the disease, while the
Tarakanita preschool in Citra Raya, Tangerang, found four.

"The school's management is still discussing its next step. It
discovered the cases on Monday," said Uli Simatupang, whose
daughter is a pupil of the Tarakanita preschool.

According to data of the private Pondok Indah hospital, there
has been an increase in patients treated for HFMD, most of them
children under 5 years old.

"During the last two months, we have treated around 20
children. Previously, such patients numbered only one or two,"
said Yanti, a nurse at the child polyclinic of the hospital,
adding that none was hospitalized.

The Cipto Mangunkusumo and Gatot Subroto state hospitals had
no record of recent cases of the disease.

The Bintaro International hospital in Tangerang also has no
patients with the disease. Recently, the hospital tested a number
of children who displayed some of the disease symptoms, but the
tests proved negative.

According to Dr. Mulyadi Muchtiar, the medical manager of the
hospital, children are most prone to the disease as their
immunity is relatively low.

Contagious

Although the disease is highly contagious, those with a good
immune system are unlikely to be infected, Mulyadi said.

"What's important is to increase the immunity of the children
to keep them from being easily infected by any disease, not just
HMFD," he explained, adding that the disease was caused by
coxsackie A16 virus, and enterovirus 7.

Those affected by HFMD suffer the same symptoms as influenza,
such as fever, a running nose, and subsequently the appearance of
mouth ulcers, and a rash on the hands and feet.

In the most extreme case and when not treated properly, the
virus can further deteriorate the immune system and can cause
dysfunction of organs, including the brain, that can result in
death.

The enterovirus can easily spread through saliva, and can
contaminate food or drink. A person can also be infected with the
disease by touching an object that has been contaminated by the
virus.

"It's not a deadly virus, but it is always much better to
detect the disease in its early stages and administer medicine as
soon as possible," Mulyadi remarked.

The first outbreak of the disease in Indonesia was in November
2000, when a preschool in Pondok Indah found two cases at the
school and immediately closed for two days to prevent the virus
from spreading any further.

Last year in Malaysia and Singapore, 1,150 children were
diagnosed with the disease, and of that number four died.

The city health agency recorded last November some 30 cases of
infants suffering from the contagious hand, foot and mouth
disease.

Deputy head of the agency Ruhul Aflah said that the disease,
which has been dubbed in several countries as a lethal one, was
mostly discovered in the city's upmarket housing estates, such as
the Pondok Indah area.

She added that all of the recorded 30 cases had been found in
middle- and upper-income neighborhoods and there were no reports
that the disease had yet infected children from poor families.

The disease is usually found in cows and other farm animals.
Adults can also be infected by the disease, but children under
the age of five are especially susceptible.

The incubation period of the disease is from three to seven
days. "The ailing child can be treated at home, meaning that the
sick person does not have to stay in hospital as long as he has
adequate time to rest, enough nutrition and vitamin C. The child
should also see a doctor for a routine checkup," Ruhul said.(06)