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View all search resultsIndonesia steps up Ebola surveillance after deadly Africa outbreaks
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A man is carried from an ambulance as he arrives at Bunia General Referral Hospital on May 16 following confirmation of an Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain in Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo. (Reuters/Victoire Mukenge)
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ndonesia has tightened health screening at airports and other entry points following deadly Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, as authorities race to prevent imported cases of the highly infectious disease that has killed more than 130 people in Central Africa.
The Health Ministry said it had deployed health officers to monitor travelers arriving from outbreak-affected countries, with suspected cases to be referred to designated infectious disease hospitals and reported through the ministry’s Early Warning and Response System (SKDR), which tracks potential outbreaks nationwide.
The move followed the World Health Organization’s declaration on Sunday that the Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo strain in the DRC and Uganda constituted a "public health emergency of international concern".
“We advise people who have traveled to the outbreak-affected countries to immediately seek medical attention if they develop symptoms within 21 days of arrival in Indonesia,” ministry spokesperson Aji Muhawarman told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, noting that symptoms include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, diarrhea and bleeding.
The ministry further confirmed that no Ebola cases have been detected in Indonesia.
Read also: WHO declares Ebola outbreak in Congo, Uganda an emergency of international concern
Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman of Griffith University in Australia said Indonesia’s risk of a large-scale Ebola outbreak remained low due to limited travel flows from Africa and the virus’s transmission pattern, which requires direct contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals.
