Indonesia is currently (officially, at least) monkeypox-free after the country’s only patient has made a full recovery, the Ministry of Health said.
Last week, a 27-year-old man in Jakarta tested positive for the disease after he returned from an overseas trip.
“The first patient who tested positive for monkeypox has recovered after testing negative,” the ministry’s Disease Prevention and Control Director Maxi Rein Rondonuwu said yesterday.
In addition, Indonesia has so far detected 38 suspected monkeypox cases, all of which had been discarded. Jakarta had by far the highest number of suspected cases, 24, followed by Banten, West Java, Central Java, South Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi with two each.
It’s apparent that the ministry has been careful not to raise alarm over monkeypox.
Last week, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said, with tongue firmly in cheek, that Indonesians shouldn’t worry too much about monkeypox because, “You’d look ugly, definitely, but at least you’ll survive.”
One of the most commonly reported symptoms of monkeypox are blister-like lesions that are usually concentrated in the genital area. Others include headaches, fever, muscle aches, exhaustion, rashes and spots.
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