Serious drives fail to curb dengue cases<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Despite serious efforts and drives to curb
\ndengue fever, 7,081 dengue cases were recorded in the city last
\nyear, an official said.<\/p>\n
Aslan Lasman, the head of the city's health agency, said
\nyesterday that the number was much higher than the estimated
\n3,700 to 4,000 cases.<\/p>\n
\"The estimation was made based on observations over a three-
\nyear period. But the prediction was right off,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Last year's number of cases was higher than that in 1995,
\nwhen there was only 5,867 cases,\" Aslan said in his report to the
\ngovernor.<\/p>\n
Aslan said dengue outbreaks happened in 1992, 1994, 1995 and
\n1996 in the capital city. Newspapers reported that 18 people had
\ndied of dengue from January to May 1996.<\/p>\n
Dengue is considered common in the city, with one or more
\ncases being found in 259 out of 265 subdistricts in three
\nconsecutive years.<\/p>\n
He said most districts in the city, except Kepulauan Seribu
\ndistrict, were vulnerable to dengue.<\/p>\n
\"In 1996, the number of dengue cases increased between April
\nand June, especially in East Jakarta,\" Aslan said.<\/p>\n
His office had officially asked the Ministry of Health to
\nconduct research on dengue in East Jakarta. \"We got no response,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Last year, most dengue cases in the city happened in May and
\nJune, with 1,349 and 1,098 cases respectively.<\/p>\n
\"The lowest number was reported in October, with 246 cases,\"
\nAslan said.<\/p>\n
In November and December, cases increased to 508 and 759
\nrespectively, he said.<\/p>\n
\"In January this year, the number of dengue cases dropped to
\n502 and it was only 185 in February,\" Aslan said.<\/p>\n
Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said Thursday the city had tried
\nseveral ways to curb the deadly disease.<\/p>\n
Fumigation in locations where the aedes aegypti mosquito is
\nknown to breed, as well as providing adequate information on how
\nto prevent the spread of the disease were still popular.<\/p>\n
Surjadi said dengue was a unique disease in that the aedes
\naegypti mosquito carrying it lays eggs in clear and stagnant
\nwater.<\/p>\n
Those infected usually experience high fever, rash and
\nhemorrhaging.<\/p>\n
Aslan did not mention the number of people who died of dengue
\nfever last year.<\/p>\n
The city's information department had tried to block all
\ninformation on the spread of the illness in fear of a drop in the
\nnumber of tourists.<\/p>\n
Asked about City Hall's effort to block such information, the
\nMinistry of Health's Director General of Communicable Disease
\nControl and Environmental Health Hadi M. Abednego said yesterday:
\n\"It is understandable. Maybe if City Hall could make scientific
\nreports on the disease, there would be no problem,\" he told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He said the most important step was to spread the right
\ninformation of how to prevent the spread of dengue and for the
\npublic to take necessary precautions.<\/p>\n
\"Three main efforts to prevent dengue are: cleaning out any
\nwater containers at least once a week, closing all water
\ncontainers and burying containers of standing water like old
\ncans, which could be used by the mosquitoes to breed,\" Hadi said.<\/p>\n
He said the efforts sound very simple, but require a change in
\nhabits.<\/p>\n
Data at the Ministry of Health indicated that as of June 17,
\n1996, 43 had died of dengue fever and 3,024 others had been
\nhospitalized. In May there were 28 deaths out of 1,880 cases, the
\nministry said. (ste)<\/p>",
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