Dengue death toll hits 166
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The death toll in the dengue fever outbreak has reached 166 from the at least 8,135 people infected nationwide, as health authorities are struggling to identify the virus responsible for the rapid spread of the disease.
Director General of Communicable Diseases Umar Fahmi said a government surveillance team had been conducting serotype tests to determine the cause of the outbreak, which would enable the government to find proper measures to contain the disease.
"The team is studying the possible existence of a new strain of the dengue fever virus, which is different from the ones responsible for the outbreak last year," Fahmi said.
The tests are being conducted at the Health Laboratory Center (BLK) in four major cities in Indonesia: Jakarta, Palembang, Surabaya and Makassar, and in university laboratories countrywide.
Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are caused by one of four closely related, but antigenically distinct, virus serotypes -- DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4 -- of the genus Flavivirus.
Infection with one of these serotypes does not provide cross- protective immunity.
Doctors treating patients in several provinces across the country believe a new, more virulent subvariant virus sparked this year's outbreak.
The head of arbovirology at the Ministry of Health, Rita Kusriastuti, said the possibility was there but it would take a long time to prove the suspicion.
"It's like a complete mapping of the virus' genes. It would take a long time to complete such a complicated test," Rita said.
She said the DEN-3 serotype was commonly found in previous outbreaks and many people had become immune to the strain.
An internist at Dr. Soetomo General Hospital in Surabaya, Nasronuddin, said different strains of the virus might be found in different climates.
The government has officially declared the current outbreak of dengue fever an "extraordinary occurrence".
Umar said the status required the government to pay extra attention to the spread of the disease.
"We have prepared a number of hospitals across the country and will treat dengue fever patients for free, especially in Jakarta," he said.
Jakarta and East Java are the areas hardest hit by the dengue fever outbreak, where infection cases account for half of the national figure.
Dengue fever cases have shown an increasing trend over the past four years, from 21,134 in 1999, 33,443 in 2000, 45,904 in 2001, 40,377 in 2002) to 50,131 in 2003.
Separately, the head of communicable diseases of the Yogyakarta municipal health agency, Kuncoro Gunawan, said the local government had alerted hundreds of community health centers across the town to give priority to dengue fever patients.
The health agency has asked for Rp 1.6 billion (US$188,235) in emergency funds to contain the disease.