Dengue death toll increases to 117
JAKARTA (JP): An outbreak of dengue in the country's 27 provinces has killed 117 people and hospitalized more than 5,000 over the past five months, a senior health official said yesterday.
Director General of Communicable Disease Control and Environmental Health Hadi M. Abednego said East Java recorded the highest rate, with 2,484 hospitalized and 57 deaths. Jakarta came second with 1,880 hospitalized and 28 deaths, followed by West Java with 523 hospitalized and 11 deaths.
He acknowledged that the actual number of people affected and the fatality rate could be higher, because some cases might have gone unrecorded, especially in remote places.
Hadi warned the public against the disease, which usually attacks during the transition period between seasons. "Dengue can't be cured yet. It can only be prevented," Hadi said.
"Keep your environment clean. Get rid of stagnant water, which is the usual breeding place for the Aedes aegypty mosquitoes that cause the disease," he said.
Dengue usually hits densely-populated areas and affects children who spend most of their time outdoors. The Ministry of Health has been fighting the disease by, among other methods, launching periodical fumigating.
Hadi said outbreaks of dengue usually occur in December or January. "But in several provinces, such as Bandung, Jakarta, Surabaya and Yogyakarta, they occur between June and July," Hadi said.
Hadi also warned the public against other diseases which usually break out during season's transition. Diarrhea, typhoid, eye and skin diseases were examples.
Yesterday, Hadi also warned that the bites from other types of mosquitoes, such as Anopheles, Culex, Mansonia and Aedes kochi, could cause elephantiasis.
"When people are affected by elephantiasis, parts of their body will swell, including their legs, breasts, even their genitals," Hadi said.
Elephantiasis, caused by certain worms whose larva are transferred to the human body through mosquito bites, can be cured, he said. The swelling, however, would remain. (31)