New diphtheria strain alters vaccine policy

BANDUNG (JP): The Ministry of Health will change its policy on immunization for school children as of 2002 in response to a recent increase in the incidence of diphtheria in parts of the country, a senior official has said.

The program, called School Children Immunization Month (BIAS) which was launched nationwide three years ago, will include diphtheria vaccines in addition to the tetanus and whooping vaccines so far administered.

Umar Fahmi Achmadi, the health ministry's director general for communicable diseases and environmental health, said in Bandung earlier this week that diphtheria prevailed in Cianjur, West Java, with at least 20 deaths among children aged seven to nine over the year.

"Not all of the children died from diphtheria, as some developed complications with other ailments," said Umar Fahmi after attending a commemoration of the 111th anniversary of state pharmaceutical company Bio Farma in Bandung.

The deaths in Cianjur, according to him, represent a twofold increase from previous years and so the health ministry has declared it an extraordinary incidence.

"Though nationally there has been no major increase in the rate of occurrence of diphtheria, several regions like Semarang and Pemalang also in Central Java have recorded similar outbreaks," he added.

The ministry, after examination of 700 school children aged seven to nine in Cianjur, found that the bacteria responsible for the high death rate in the area was from a new strain previously unknown in Indonesia.

As a follow-up to the finding, the ministry sought the assistance of UNICEF to import diphtheria vaccines for the immunization of children aged seven and nine in Cianjur, whereas national application of diphtheria vaccination will start next year through the BIAS program.

Meanwhile, PT Bio Farma is also producing diphtheria vaccines for next year's BIAS program. Its president director, Thamrin Poeloengan, revealed that the government had ordered 17.5 million doses of the vaccine.

"As a rule, the government needs only 50,000 doses, which we order from abroad to overcome extraordinary cases," said Thamrin, adding that the large demand this time had forced the company to produce it at home. (25)