'Chikungunya' outbreaks hits Tangerang

'Chikungunya' outbreaks hits Tangerang

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Nur Fadillah should have been enjoying her school holidays like
her friends. But the 12-year-old girl had to stay in bed as she
could not move her swollen arms and legs in the past four days.

"I also feel the itchy on the swollen parts of my legs and
arms," she said.

Her father Yunus, 44, said that he also began to have the
similar symptoms two days ago.

"It's like having a fever. I feel cold and have joint pain. I
also feel dizzy and sleepy all the time," he said.

The pair are among over 50 residents of Kampong Pintu Kapuk,
Bojong Renged subdistrict in Teluk Naga district, Tangerang, who
have contracted chikungunya.

First recognized in its epidemic form in East Africa in 1952,
it has continued to cause major epidemics in Africa, India and
Southeast Asia. Also known as epidemic polyarthritis and rash, or
buggy creek virus, the first case reported in Indonesia was in
Samarinda, East Kalimantan, in 1973 and the last was in 1983 in
Yogyakarta.

After a hiatus of almost 20 years, chikungunya broke out again
in early 2001 in Muara Enim, South Sulawesi and Aceh, then in
October of the same year in Bogor, West Java. The epidemic struck
Bekasi in West Java, and Purworejo and Klaten in Central Java in
2002.

Having similar symptoms to dengue fever, chikungunya, however,
is characterized by a briefer episode of fever, persistent
arthralgia is some cases, and by the absence of deaths.
Chikungunya is a self-limiting febrile virus that is transmitted
through the bite of aedes aegypti or aedes africanus mosquito.

The illness usually lasts for three to 10 days, with
arthralgia remaining a problem for weeks to several months after
the initial phase.

Since there is currently no antiviral available, prevention of
the disease focuses at controlling mosquitoes and avoiding
mosquito bites, while the patients should take enough rest and
eat nutritious food.

Tangerang regental health agency, with help from the Ministry
of Health, has sent a team of medical doctors to the small
village near the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which will
be affected by the expansion of the airport in the near future.

The team provided free medical treatment for villagers who are
suffering with chikungunya symptoms and took blood samples for
laboratory tests.

Head of the communicable disease prevention unit at the
regental health agency, Yuliah Iskandar, said that the agency
would fumigate the village and other villages in the whole
district to curb the epidemic.

"We advise residents to immediately get a check up at public
health centers if they begin to feel the symptoms. We also tell
them to keep their environment clean to prevent mosquitoes from
breeding," she said.