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Are we ready to face monkeypox outbreak?
Every day, goods and people cross Indonesian borders. But the real threat that is often overlooked is disease. Dealing with communicable diseases transmitted through a border is a very daunting task for several reasons.
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Illustration of airport terminal (Shutterstock/Shine Nucha)
R
emember that scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, when the vicious Orcs breach Helm’s Deep, the mightiest stronghold ever built in Rohan? Surprisingly, they accomplish this by blowing up a hole into the base of the fortress’s wall.
In real life, a mighty kingdom and its ruler can fall in a single night because its enemies penetrate the border. In 1939, Poland relied on its military defense plan, Plan Zachód. The Allies criticized the plan because it was too weak. Unfortunately, the Polish ignored this and as a result, Nazi Germany defeated Polish forces in just a few days.
The message is clear that when a nation’s borders are weak, it is vulnerable. Every day, goods and people cross Indonesian borders, legally or not.
But the real threat that is often overlooked is disease. Remember how the conquistadores wiped out the entire Maya civilization? The Spanish didn’t even shoot a single rifle. It only took one sick conquistador soldier and the Maya civilization surrendered, forever.
Dealing with communicable diseases transmitted through a border is a very daunting task for several reasons.
First, the carrier usually does not show any obvious symptoms. They look healthy, and the checkpoint officer cannot tell the difference.
Second, the disease is easily transmitted to the new host, because the new host does not (physiologically) recognize the disease and hence has not developed any antibodies against the novel disease. This explains why the avian flu virus is easily transmissible in other countries.
