Dengue fever kills five in Indramayu<\/p>\n
Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Indramayu, West Java<\/p>\n
An outbreak of dengue fever has hit Indramayu regency, West Java,
\nleaving at least five children dead and more than 100 others
\nhospitalized, nurses and officials said on Monday.<\/p>\n
They said at least 103 cases of dengue fever had been recorded
\nsince early September and that all the sufferers were being
\ntreated at the Indramayu General Hospital.<\/p>\n
\"Most of them have been allowed to go home. Only 31 patients,
\nmostly children, are still undergoing medical treatment,\" said
\nnurse Uliyati.<\/p>\n
She said the number of dengue fever patients had drastically
\nincreased during September but the hospital did not have enough
\nchildren's rooms for the young patients.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore, we are forced to accommodate some patients in
\nother care rooms,\" she added.<\/p>\n
The five dead children were identified as Devi, 3, Mohammad
\nSega, 3, Ayu, 4, Hesty, 7, and Rohadi, 12.<\/p>\n
Uliyati said doctors had failed to save the children because
\nthey were taken to the hospital too late. Their conditions were
\nalready severe or they had reached the stage of dengue shock
\nsyndrome (DSS).<\/p>\n
\"They came to the hospital suffering from severe bleeding
\nbecause of the delay in getting medical treatment. The patients
\nhad suffered dengue fever for more than five days on average,\"
\nshe added.<\/p>\n
Separately, a senior official of the Indramayu health office,
\nRiyanto, said this year's dengue fever outbreak had hit villagers
\nliving in the town's northern coastal areas.<\/p>\n
Most of the infected patients were from the villages of
\nPasekan, Pagirikan, Totoran and Karanganyar in Sindang
\nsubdistrict; the villages of Brondong and Pabean Ilir in
\nIndramayu subdistrict; and Rawadalem village in Balongan
\nsubdistrict, he said.<\/p>\n
\"We ask residents in those coastal areas to be alert because
\nduring the onset of the wet season such outbreaks could spread
\nquickly,\" Riyanto added.<\/p>\n
He said his office would continue providing and disseminating
\nbasic information on how to fight dengue fever, carried by the
\nAedes agepty mosquitoes, by maintaining a healthy environment.<\/p>\n
\"The local health office will also continue to carry out
\nfogging at dengue-fever-prone areas to kill the mosquitoes,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Indramayu Regent Irianto MS Syafiuddin admitted
\nthat his administration could have acted faster, \"We have
\nreprimanded the health office for being late in tackling this
\nmatter. We are now trying to prevent more victims from being
\ninfected,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Irianto said he had set up a special team, led by the head of
\nthe Idramayu health office, to prevent the spread of the disease.
\n\"I will directly supervises the work of the team. We want the
\ndengue fever attack to be stopped soon.\"<\/p>\n
Dengue fever also struck several regencies across North
\nSumatra province amid the wet season there, killing more than 20
\npatients, mostly children.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/dengue-fever-kills-five-in-indramayu-1447893297",
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