New strains of diseases invades Southeast Asian

JAKARTA (JP): The emergence of at least 30 new strains of infectious diseases in Southeast Asia in the past decade is placing the region at increased risk for a major outbreak, Minister of Health and Social Welfare Ahmad Sujudi said on Thursday.

"Such Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) have the potential to create an intense outbreak in a very short time," Ahmad said in a media briefing on Regional Action Conference for Surveillance and Response to Infectious Disease Outbreak in Southeast Asia.

Among the new strains of infectious diseases found in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries are Cholera 0139, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Dengue Fever, Hepatitis (B,C,E), HIV, Meningitis, Japanese Encephalitis, Rabies, Hantavirus, Yellow Fever and Ecoli 0157, the minister said.

"Most of these diseases sound familiar, but actually new strains have developed or mutated into new types of illnesses with different symptoms and can no longer be cured by customary antibiotic medicines," Ahmad said.

Therefore, scientists must find other cures, he said.

Sri Astuti Suparmanto, director general of the National Institute for Health Research and Development cited as an example of an investigation in 1992 that revealed a new hepatitis variety called Hepatitis E which had killed several pregnant women in Kalimantan.

"We have to act fast identifying the symptoms and instituting preventive and curative actions," Sri said.

Such phenomena are caused mostly by antibiotic resistance due to improper dosage and rapid transportation and migration of the diseases with contributing factors such as poverty, massive populations, environmental destruction, and natural disasters, she said.

The ministry's 1999 data revealed that extraordinary outbreaks of diseases occurring in the country are ranked as follows: measles with 4,718 cases and 73 deaths, tetanus neonatorum with 98 cases and 58 deaths, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) with 1,136 cases and 41 deaths, diarrhea with 5,147 cases and 64 deaths, malaria with 1,171 cases and 44 deaths, rabies with 150 cases and 26 deaths, diphtheria with 40 cases and 11 deaths.

"Each Asian country faces different problems. In Thailand and the Philippines, for instance, the incidence of HIV cases and mortality rates are quite high compared to Indonesia," Ahmad said.

In a bid to cope with the problem, the ministry, in cooperation with United States Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 (Namru-2 Jakarta) will hold a conference on Regional Action for Infectious Disease Outbreak in Southeast Asia in Kuta, Bali, from Sept. 11 to Sept. 15.

"We hope to come up with a joint regional plan to handle infectious disease outbreaks," he added.

Among the topics are surveillance and control of such plagues, Early Warning Outbreak Recognition System (EWORS) and the economic impact of plagues.

Representatives from 16 countries are slated to join the conference as well as international organizations such as the World Health Organization, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, U.S. Cooperation Among Developing Countries, and Australia Aid and related Indonesian ministries such as forestry and agriculture and the ministry of tourism.

In another development, the minister also revealed that there are currently between 750,000 and 800,000 displaced people in the country who are in danger from such contagious plagues because of inadequate facilities.

"The number of refugees in Indonesia is mostly concentrated in the Malukus and other strife-torn areas.

"As for East Timor refugees, we are coordinating with United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (Untaet)," he said. (edt)