Orangutans infected with hepatitis
SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan: The Wanariset Semboja orangutan conservation center has found 58 of the orangutans it is currently handling have been infected with hepatitis.
Spokesman for the center Jean Mandala said on Thursday the orangutans were now receiving treatment and had been isolated from the rest of the animals. Some of them have been diagnosed as having hepatitis C.
The Samarinda-based center is home to 183 orangutans which had been seized during crackdowns on protected species or voluntarily handed in by their masters.
Mandala said he believed the orangutans had contracted the virus from their former masters because of their close genetic link.
He said the orangutans with hepatitis would be released to the forest after treatment.
Common diseases found in orangutans include tuberculosis, flu and worms.
Wanariset Semboja has released some 700 orangutans into their natural habitat since 1990. -- Antara
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ITB to open school of food supplements
BANDUNG: The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) plans to open a new school to produce experts in drugs and cosmetics in 2004.
The institute's rector Kusmayanto Kadiman said on Thursday the new discipline would replace the current pharmaceutical faculty, and would involve the schools of biology, physics and chemical engineering.
Students of the new school will also learn marketing to enable them to sell drugs and cosmetics, Kusmayanto told a seminar.
He called the new discipline the school of food supplements, pending an official name.
He anticipated the school would admit 600 students in its first year.
The new school is badly needed, according to Kusmayanto, because Indonesia is lagging behind other Asian countries in the discipline.
An advisor to the Minister of Health Richard Panjaitan welcomed the proposal, saying it would give a boost to the use of traditional medicine. -- Antara
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President not invited to Hindu event
MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: Unlike past years, the national organizing committee of Utsawa Dharma Gita Hindu holy verse reading contest this year will not invite the President to open the event.
The decision followed a meeting of the committee presided over by Governor Harun Al Rasyid, whose province has been named host of the annual contest.
Harun said President Megawati Soekarnoputri would not be invited because she failed to turn up to open a Koran reading contest hosted by the province last June.
"If the President is invited and fulfills our invitation this time around, we fear it will spark unwanted consequences," Harun said.
West Nusa Tenggara is predominantly a Muslim province, with a minority Hindu population whose ancestors came from the neighboring island of Bali.
The Utsawa Dharma Gita will take place between Oct. 26 and Oct. 30, featuring some 500 contestants representing provinces throughout the country. -- Antara