The city health agency has advised the public to exercise caution of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) recently found in Depok, south of Jakarta.
Tini Suryanti, the city health agency spokeswoman, said, “Because it is a highly contagious disease there, we will temporarily close a school if we find a cases of the disease. If a child contracts the disease, they will be quarantined to prevent further infections.”
Recently, a toddler in Depok, was diagnosed with HFMD, also known as Singaporean flu. The child and seven others who caught the disease in early April, have since recuperated, according to Ani Rubiani, head of the Depok subagency of environmental health and disease control.
She said while it was true the toddlers showed symptoms of HFMD, only one child was taken to hospital, and that recuperated within a few days.
“The affected children live in the same area, they are friends and that is why the disease spread so easily,” she said.
“The father of one patient often travels to Singapore as he works there.”
She said HFMD was usually contracted by children under 10 years of age, and no vaccine or medicine had so far been developed to fight the disease.
The toddlers who caught the disease in Depok are aged between 1 and 5 years old.
HFMD is caused by a virus, with symptoms of high fever and vesicles in the mouth, hands and feet. It may also be accompanied by muscle pain and diarrhea. The virus is enterovirus, meaning it enters the body through the digestive tract and multiplies in the oropharynx area. Basic preventions include general cleanliness and a strong immune system.
“Not sharing cutlery and kitchen utensils such as spoons, forks and towels is necessary,” Tini said.
“Extra care such as hand-washing and cleaning the toys must be taken to ensure the hygiene of young children,”she said.
The incubation period for HFMD is between three to seven days as the disease is contagious during the first week of symptoms. HFMD spreads through direct contact: coughs, sneezes, and even talking.
The Ministry of Health website says the disease is contagious and is frequently found in the dry season. It often spreads in dense communities and mostly affects children. Adults are often immune to the disease.
The disease is not related to foot and mouth disease found in cattle.
The nickname of the disease, Singaporean flu, most probably derives from outbreaks of the disease in Singapore. A paper by Stephen J Nervi, MD, a physician at the department of dermatology, University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey, said HFMD epidemics have been more frequent in Southeast Asia in recent years, including Taiwan in 1998 and Singapore in 2000.
Xinhua News Agency reported in late March that Singapore had 3,302 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease from January to March 14 this year, up 20 percent from the same period last year.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health said 88 percent of cases this year involved children aged 12 and below, while 8 percent included adults aged 21 years and above. Seasonal peaks of hand, foot and mouth disease in Singapore occur from March to May, and August to October.
In Indonesia, there is no data on the spread of the disease. (iwp)
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|