Chikungunya infects hundreds of locals in Bantul
Chikungunya infects hundreds of locals in Bantul
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
After infecting hundreds of people in other areas across the
nation, Chikungunya disease, similar to dengue fever and not
fatal, has now been confirmed in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta.
The first suspected case was reported two weeks ago, and now
is said to infect hundreds of people, especially in Bambanglipuro
and Sanden districts.
Murtijan, the chief of Gunungan hamlet, Sumbermulyo
subdistrict in Bambanglipuro district here said on Friday that
many residents in the hamlet were already infected by the
disease. Out of a total of more than 400 residents, about 100 of
have gotten the disease, he said.
Chikungunya is contracted through a mosquito bite and is
characterized by an extremely high fever, but differs from dengue
in its symptoms of severe joint pain (arthralgia) that last up to
a week.
Murtijan, 55, complained that the regency health agency had
done nothing to stop the spread of Chikungunya.
"The Bantul health office has not fumigated our hamlet yet or
taken other measures to combat the disease, and so it is
spreading fast in our hamlet," said Murtijan.
Ndaru, a resident in the neighboring subdistrict Sumberagung,
said that the disease had spread to 10 hamlets in the
subdistrict.
"Approximately, 800 residents have been infected by the
disease," claimed Ndaru, a university student from the area.
In addition to Sumbermulyo and Sumberagung subdistricts, the
disease also has struck Srigarding subdistrict in Sanden district
here.
Saridjah, 46, a resident in Srigading subdistrict, said that
five people here had been infected.
"The spread of the disease in the subdistrict began in
December," she recalled.
Head of the Bantul Health Office's Communicable Disease
Section Aries Suyanto acknowledged that it had struck several
districts in Bantul.
He said that the office would immediately fumigate several
areas suspected of being breeding grounds for the Aedes
Albopictus mosquito, which is a carrier of the Chikungunya virus.
He, however, reminded people not to be panic, because the it
is not fatal.
The first reported case of chikungunya was in 1952 in
Tanzania. In Indonesia, the first reported case was in 1973 in
Samarinda, East Kalimantan. It spread to Kuala Tungkal in Jambi
province in 1980 and to Yogyakarta, Martapura and Ternate in
1983. Various cases have been reported recently in Cirebon and
Bandung in West Java province, and the latest report was last
week in the Taman Sari area of Jakarta.