Dengue fever claims three more, officials tell public not to panic

Dengue fever claims three more, officials tell public not to panic

JAKARTA (JP): Health officials revealed on Monday that more
people in the capital had been infected with dengue hemorrhagic
fever while asking residents not to panic as everything was still
under control.

An official at the city's health agency disclosed that three
more people afflicted by the fever had died, bringing to 10 the
number of fatalities so far.

"We have recorded a total of 1,526 cases so far this year,"
head of agency's animal-related diseases section Tini Suryanti
told reporters at her office.

Worrying that the disease might spread further, her office
held a meeting on Saturday with all the heads of hospitals
located in Greater Jakarta in an attempt to strictly monitor the
development of dengue fever patients in the capital and
coordinate efforts to overcome the problem.

"We asked hospital heads to inform the agency promptly on any
new dengue fever patients admitted to their hospitals," Tini
said.

Based on previous standard procedures, hospitals had to report
such cases on a daily basis.

According to available data, the city recorded over 15,000
cases in 1998 with 133 fatalities. Last year, the number of cases
totaled 3,751 with 45 people dead.

Among the hospitals that have been inundated by dengue fever
patients is Pasar Rebo Hospital in East Jakarta.

The hospital's director, Umar Wahid, said the management had
resorted to placing patients in the corridors as the wards were
overflowing.

"The patients outnumbered the hospital's capacity, especially
those who are being treated in third class," Umar, who is
President Abdurrahman Wahid's brother, told The Jakarta Post.

But, he said, city residents need not be worried or panicked
about what was happening at his hospital.

According to him, the patients were at the hospital merely due
to the hospital decision's not to reject any dengue fever
patients.

"Everything is still under control.

"We have enough blood and medicine supplies, as well as
medical personnel," he said.

So far, the hospital has treated some 55 dengue patients.

"The number of dengue cases is not as high as in 1998 when the
capital had its worst outbreak," he added.

Most of the patients being treated at the hospital were
residents living nearby and mostly of the lower income bracket,
Umar explained.

The doctor recalled that some of the patients came to the
hospital in a panic, thinking they were infected by the deadly
disease.

He said most of the patients that rushed to the hospital were
suffering from a light fever, indicating that they were at the
early stages of the infection.

Umar praised the attitude of the local residents in reacting
immediately.

"(Under such conditions), it's not necessary to give the
patients blood transfusions, only to provide them with additional
fluids. That's enough," he said.

Health officials have repeatedly asked the public to help
prevent the possible outbreak by cutting the life cycle of the
aedes aegypty mosquito, which carries the fever virus.

"Residents must remember to avoid the presence of clean and
still water where the mosquito lays its eggs. We must always
close, periodically clean or bury water containers," head of the
city's health agency, Achmad Harjadi, said.

In Central Jakarta, health officials have named at least 10
subdistricts as the most dengue fever-prone areas in the
mayoralty.

The head of the control and eradication subdivision of the
local health office, Paripurna, identified the 10 spots as Karang
Anyar, Kemayoran, Serdang, Cempaka Baru, Utan Panjang, Paseban,
Cempaka Putih Timur, Kampung Rawa, Cikini and Bendungan Hilir.

"The conditions there are the worst," he said.

The number of people suffering from dengue fever in those
areas in January and February this year alone has reached 161
cases, which is three times higher than the 46 cases in the same
period last year.

"Out efforts to help eradicate the fever failed because
residents did not cooperate with us. They, for instance, did not
want to open their doors and windows for the health employees to
fumigate.

Most of them only asked our personnel to fumigate the hedges
in front of their houses," Paripurna said.

Interviewed earlier on Sunday, several residents told The
Jakarta Post that they have yet to make necessary preparations
for a possible outbreak of the fever although they realized that
the number of sufferers increases from day to day.

According to them, they would wait until their local
authorities instructed them to carry out sanitary activities,
popularly known as the "3M Movement", by scrubbing household
water tanks, buckets, vases, water reservoirs and burying unused
cans.

A resident of Pegangsaan subdistrict, Rosidi, said people in
his neighborhood were accustomed to cleaning their households
themselves.

"Moreover, we do not have enough space to bury unused
materials. So far, no one has been afflicted by the fever," he
said.

A similar comment was made by Rozali, head of a neighborhood
association at Kalipasir subdistrict.

"No instruction has been issued by the subdistrict authority
yet, but we have routinely and voluntarily cleaned our
neighborhood although it is not included in the '3M Movement',"
he said.

Experts had repeatedly said that the 3M movement was the most
effective way of eradicating dengue fever as it would end the
mosquito's life cycle.

"Meanwhile, fumigating will only kill adult mosquitoes. Their
eggs still carry the dengue virus," said Endang Suryatno,
spokeswoman of St. Carolus Hospital in Central Jakarta.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has predicted that the peak
will occur in April. (09/06/nvn/ind)