City to prevent dengue outbreak

City to prevent dengue outbreak

JAKARTA (JP): The city's Health Agency is planning a series of
preventive actions beginning in March aimed at halting further
outbreaks of dengue hemorrhagic fever, which has already claimed
six lives over the past two months, an official said on Monday.

"The activity will be held in 55 subdistricts that are
predicted to have the most cases of dengue fever. It will include
a massive fumigation program in densely populated residential
areas," said the agency's head Achmad Harjadi.

"There were 1,159 cases of dengue fever in January and
February this year with six fatalities. Last year, there were
3,751 cases with 45 fatalities," he added.

The city faced its worst dengue outbreak in 1998 with more
than 15,000 dengue cases, which claimed 133 lives.

Achmad said the agency would also disseminate information on
how to avoid the fever, for which there is no vaccine or chemical
prophylaxis.

He said incidents of the fever usually peaked in March, which
marked the end of rainy season.

"Residents should prevent the aedes aegypty mosquito, which
carries the dengue virus, from laying its eggs on still water,"
he added.

"It's important to close water containers and periodically
clean or bury them," he said. (nvn)