Bogor prepares for more dengue patients

Bogor prepares for more dengue patients

BOGOR: As the number of dengue fever patients increases, the
city-owned Cibinong hospital in Bogor has prepared additional
beds.

The hospital treated 15 patients this month for dengue, eight
of them children, hospital spokeswoman Wahyu Kurdijanti said on
Wednesday.

One of the children, seven-year-old Gunawan died last week.

"We have treated 361 dengue fever patients since January, six
of whom have died," she said.

Wahyu explained that the patients who died were in a bad
condition when they were admitted to the hospital.

"The public are still not aware of the symptoms of the
disease ... it's sometimes too late when they seek medical
treatment," she added.

The hospital treated a total of 704 patients for dengue last
year, 14 of whom died.

Bogor Health Agency recorded 18 fatalities as of Wednesday out
of 385 people who had contracted dengue this year, many of them
children.

According to the head of the communicable diseases prevention
unit at the Bogor municipality, Eulis Wulantari, the number of
patients this year decreased compared to last year.

She argued that people's awareness of the need to maintain a
healthy and clean environment was a contributing factor.

"But there is still coordination between the administration
and the public to conduct drives to clean up the city and not to
depend only on fogging which kills adult Aedes aegypti mosquito
but not the larvae," Eulis said. -- JP