Minister allays anthrax fears

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi called for calm on Saturday over the anthrax scare that has affected many countries.

He said that even though the disease was highly infectious, it was curable if it was diagnosed and treated early.

Sujudi said Indonesia had experience in handling anthrax as the Bacillus anthracis bacterium, which causes the disease, was endemic to several regions in the country.

He said that it was also known as splenic fever as the bacterium attacks the spleen of animals, which later leads to the thinning of the blood.

"Anthrax is actually a disease of animals and we have succeeded in overcoming the spread of the disease here. Antibiotics or a derivate of tetracycline will cure the disease.

"I haven't received a report on anthrax spores sent by mail. But I cannot say we are not vulnerable because this is a small world," Sujudi said after opening a service that offers consultations for heart patients over the phone.

People contract the disease after consuming the meat of infected animals, or inhaling the bacteria while handling infected animals' fur.

People working with soil contaminated with the bacterium in endemic areas or having direct contact with an infected animal which has an open wound will also expose them to the disease. Mostly cows, goats, sheep and buffaloes carry the disease.

There are various symptoms, but generally those who have contracted the disease will complain of nausea, fever or ulcerating nodules on the skin three days to one week after exposure.

Those who have inhaled the bacterium may suffer breathing difficulties, fever, chills, weakness, headache, abdominal and chest pains, which, Sujudi said, was the most dangerous form of the disease.

"People suspecting they have received anthrax spores in their mail can send the specimen to the ministry's Directorate General of Communicable Disease Control and Environmental Health for examination," he said.

The directorate general, known as Ditjen P2M&KL, is located at Jl. Percetakan Negara No. 29 in East Jakarta.