Officials silent over toxoplasma in goat meat

JAKARTA (JP): After announcing its finding that 42 percent of 500 goats slaughtered in Jakarta were infected with toxoplasma bacteria, City Husbandry Agency officials kept silent on the problem on Thursday.

The agency's head Edy Setiarto could not be reached since his telephone was constantly engaged, while his subordinates refused to comment on the matter.

City Spokesman Muhayat told reporters to speak to Edy directly, refusing to comment further, since it was a technical matter that ought to be discussed with the agency.

The agency said on Wednesday, that based on its survey in July this year, it had found that 42 percent of the 500 tested goats had been infected by the bacteria.

Separately, City Health Agency spokeswoman Jessy Widiastuti claimed that there were no reports on the number of toxoplasma patients from hospitals. "So far there is no significant number of patients suffering from toxoplasma," Jessy told The Jakarta Post.

She said that patients that had suffered miscarriage because of the bacteria had probably been treated in private hospitals and clinics.

She claimed that Jakarta residents so far were not really concerned about toxoplasma disease, although it had been known about for years. "However, we will include the toxoplasma disease in our health campaign soon," Jessy said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi warned of the dangers of toxoplasma bacteria, saying that the disease caused by the bacteria had a 20 percent mortality rate.

"We have to be very concerned and prevent it because the disease is very dangerous, it carries a mortality rate of 20 percent," Sujudi said on Thursday after a Cabinet meeting.

The minister called on the husbandry director general at the ministry of agriculture to immediately prevent the meat from entering the market and identify the livestock units where the sick animals originated or that contained the bacteria.

"The only way to prevent the spread is by stopping the distribution of the meat. It is up to the ministry of agriculture to take the necessary preventive measures," Sujudi further remarked.

He emphasized that he had not yet received any reports of people catching the disease because of the meat and still awaited a report from the ministry of agriculture on the cases.

"We have not yet had any data on the people that have caught the disease because of the meat and are still awaiting the report. All we know is that there is some goat meat containing the bacteria," the minister added.

Men as well

Separately, Santoso Cornain, the head of laboratory of immunology of the University of Indonesia, said that once the toxoplasma parasite entered the human body it remained there.

He said the bacteria was transmitted to the human body by consuming food, including goat meat, infected with the toxoplasma bacteria.

Santoso said either men or women could be infected by the toxoplasma, and if they did not get medical treatment early, it could cause reproductive problems.

"A woman could suffer a miscarriage after two months of pregnancy or have difficulties in conceiving if she were infected by toxoplasma," he said, adding that for men it could cause infertility.

He said the bacteria would not cause health problems as long as a person was in good health because the parasite would be controlled by the body's immune system. But since it remained in the human body, it could always attack people whenever their immune system was not functioning properly.

"It attacks not only the reproductive system. It can attack other parts of the human body, depending on which parts are weak when the bacteria attack. That's why it can cause blindness," he said.

He suggested that married couples who wanted to conceive ought to undergo a toxoplasma check before proceeding.

Santoso advised people not to consume any raw or half-cooked food if they had any doubt about its hygiene.

According to the laboratory's data, from about 2000 of its patients per year, 67 percent, men and women, are infected with the parasite.

Santoso said that most toxoplasma cases were found in households that had a pet cat.

"Although the toxoplasma parasite can be found anywhere, it is commonly found in cats as their intestines react very quickly to the bacteria, such that their feces contain the parasite " Santoso said. (06/jun/dja)