Dessy Sagita

A health official holding a ferry passenger suspected of carrying the swine flu virus — all part of a pandemic preparedness simulation. (JG Photo)

Swine Flu the Biggest Challenge For Indonesia Health Ministry in 2009

The H1N1 swine flu virus easily caused the most worries for the Health Ministry in 2009, following its spread across 25 of the country’s 33 provinces and the initial unfamiliarity with the disease’s symptoms, an official said on Tuesday.

“H1N1 influenza, or swine flu, was definitely the outbreak that caused the biggest scare in the country this year. People were unfamiliar with the virus and its ability to spread quickly from human to human, so we had a serious panic situation on our hands,” Rita Kusriatuti, the ministry’s director for management of animal-related communicable diseases, told the Jakarta Globe.

More than 1,000 people in the country were infected by the virus — which first emerged in Mexico and the United States in April — which reportedly claimed 10 lives. Of those infected, 6 percent were foreign nationals.

“For the first time in more than 40 years, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. Of course, the whole world immediately went on alert. The issue became very sensitive and suspicions were everywhere,” Rita said.

F ormer Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari, according to media reports, tried to downplay the situation by claiming the virus was unlikely to spread in Indonesia because it could not survive the “tropical heat.” The controversial minister’s claim almost immediately turned out to be incorrect when, in June, tourists in Bali were rushed to hospital after developing flu-like symptoms.

The virus quickly spread and the government had to resort to upgrading health security measures in international airports and seaports. Thermal scanners were installed to screen people with high temperatures in an attempt to arrest the spread of the virus.

“We did everything we could. We isolated all suspected patients even after WHO told us to stop because the prevention measures seemed not to be working,” Rita said.

However, the Ministry eventually claimed that H1N1 was rarely fatal and could be treated as any other kind of influenza.

“People began to understand that although they may have contracted the virus, they would be fine after undergoing standard treatment,” she said.

She said that Indonesia was now more prepared to deal with outbreaks of viral infections because of its experiences with H1N1 and the H5N1 avian flu virus.

“We have 100 hospitals ready for the H5N1, which is similar to swine flu, but far more dangerous,” Rita said, adding that since 2003, the bird flu virus had claimed 119 lives in Indonesia across 30 provinces.

The Ministry said that H1N1 scare probably distracted health workers from dealing with dengue fever, which has been a serious threat in Indonesia for years.

Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the ministry’s director general of communicable diseases, said that from January through to July, there were 585 deaths in Indonesia from dengue out of 77,000 cases, adding that although the death toll decreased in the following period, dengue remained a serious threat.

Outside of H1N1 and H5N1, Rita said that a rabies outbreak in Bali — first detected in 2008 — had also caused serious concerns, especially since it was thought the tourist island had been free of rabies for years. “We took every feasible measure to stop the disease from spreading but it suddenly became almost uncontrollable,” Rita said.

The Bali animal husbandry agency reported that at least 15 people died during the outbreak.

The Bali administration spent Rp 13 billion in the fight against the disease. Some 28,000 of Bali’s almost half a million dogs — half of them strays — were put down during the outbreak.

Other dogs were vaccinated in the expensive campaign to halt the deadly disease.