`Chikungunya' panic takes root in rain-prone regions<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
After affecting hundreds of people in West and Central Java
\nprovinces, the chikungunya epidemic has now spread to other
\nregions in the country, causing widespread panic in some areas.<\/p>\n
In Jember, East Java, where only a few hundred people have
\nactually contracted the disease, many others have been rushing to
\nlocal hospitals fearing that they too had been infected.<\/p>\n
A medical official in Jember, Susilo Wardani, said that people
\nin some areas had been coming to community health centers and
\nphysicians to seek treatment for chikungunya, when in fact they
\nwere suffering only from flus or mild fevers.<\/p>\n
The official, however, said that the most appropriate step was
\nto immediately consult a healthcare worker so as to prevent the
\nspread of the disease.<\/p>\n
Chikungunya, a viral fever carried by the Aedes albopictus
\nmosquito, is actually not fatal, and a strong and well-nourished
\nperson should be able to weather it.<\/p>\n
Health officials in Jember have told people in the affected
\nareas to take preventive measures against the recurrence of the
\nfever. People were told to drain or cover water receptacles, and
\nto fill in waterlogged holes that could be used by the mosquito
\nto breed.<\/p>\n
Separately, West Nusa Tenggara Governor Harun Al Rasyid
\nslammed the local media for exaggerating the spread of
\nchikungunya in the province.<\/p>\n
He remarked that the findings of a health team set up right
\nafter the disease was first discovered there had revealed that
\nthe effects of the disease were not as severe as the media had
\nreported.<\/p>\n
The governor remarked that in a number of locations, patients
\nhad been left without care due to a shortage of medicine, not on
\naccount of the negligence of health workers.<\/p>\n
In Bandung, West Java, where chikungunya struck for the first
\ntime, people are now bracing themselves for further outbreaks of
\nanother mosquito-borne disease, dengue fever.<\/p>\n
Since last December, 250 people have come down with the fever
\nin the province's capital.<\/p>\n
Health workers in the province have completed an investigation
\nto identify the last outbreak of dengue fever there.<\/p>\n
One health official said that it was now the time of year for
\ndengue fever to emerge again after having completed its five year
\ncycle.<\/p>\n
In a bid to prevent outbreaks of dengue fever, health agencies
\nin the province have started spraying insecticide to interrupt
\nthe life cycle of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries the
\ndisease.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/chikungunya-panic-takes-root-in-rain-prone-regions-1447893297",
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