Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin announced that the first Indonesian confirmed monkeypox patient has recovered
The minister, who was making a presentation on monkeypox during a hearing meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR), informed, "I have just been informed that the patient has recovered." The hearing was followed on the DPR's YouTube channel from here on Tuesday.
On August 20, 2022, the Ministry of Health had announced that Indonesia's first monkeypox infection had been confirmed in a 27-year-old man in Jakarta. The patient had a history of travel to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and France.
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Based on the investigation, the patient had traveled abroad on July 22 and had arrived back in Jakarta on August 8. The patient had started experiencing the initial symptoms of monkeypox on August 11.
After consulting with several health facilities, the patient had arrived at one of the hospitals owned by the Ministry of Health on August 18 and had been confirmed positive on August 19, based on a PCR test.
The minister said that currently, there are two monkeypox variants, namely the West African and Central African variants, in circulation based on the observation of cases detected in 94 countries.
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"The Central African variant is more deadly, while the West African variant is less deadly," Sadikin said.
Based on the result of genome sequencing, the variant found in the patient in Indonesia was the West Africa variant. "Not the one that is deadly like in Central Africa," the minister added.
In Indonesia, 42 suspected cases of monkeypox have been detected by the Ministry of Health so far. Of the 42 suspects, one was confirmed positive, 38 were confirmed negative, while the other three are still under scrutiny.
