Dengue fever, diarrhea claim dozens

The Jakarta Post, Ambon/Indramayu/Kendari/Kupang

Dengue fever cases have increased rapidly in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi and Indramayu, West Java, claiming five lives and hospitalizing hundreds more, mostly children.

In Kendari, the latest victim was five-year-old Fransiska Fani Yuliawan, who died late on Friday after four days of treatment at Santa Anna hospital in Kendari.

"Fani was getting treatment, but her life couldn't be saved," said one of the nurses, who declined to be named, on Monday.

According to the government's health office data, the number of dengue fever cases in Kendari since Jan. 1 was 82.

Most of the patients are children, such as nine-year-old Fitria, who is still alive, but lays listless in a hospital bed.

"She's been sick since Saturday. She had a very high fever, so we took her to the hospital," said Fitria's grandmother, Bania.

The number of hospitalized dengue fever patients in several hospitals stood at 31 people.

According to Southeast Sulawesi health office data, the number of people currently receiving treatment and who have been diagnosed with dengue fever is 85 people, with the highest number in Kendari and Baubau city.

"So far, we are continuing to monitor the situation and waiting for reports from health offices across the province," said health official HM Sewang Aburaera on Sunday.

Mosquito abatement, using portable "fog machines", has been conducted over the last month in Kendari, but only in areas prone to dengue fever, including elementary schools and residential areas.

"But since the operational costs are very high, we only do the fogging in areas, which have had positive cases of dengue fever," said Syarif, the city's health official.

In Indramayu regency, three have died and around 20 children aged between one to 12 years old have been hospitalized because of dengue fever in the last week.

Two of the three fatalities were children under the age of five. They died in Indramayu hospital.

Djauhari, a doctor at the hospital, said there had been a sharp rise in the number of cases over the last week.

"They are recovering but we won't release them until they are completely healthy," Djauhari added.

He said that most of the dengue fever patients lived in flood- prone areas or highly populated areas with poor sanitation, such as in Sindang, Lelea and Juntinyuat districts.

Dengue is not usually fatal, but it can be for the very weak, or for those who wait too long to get medical attention. "The ones who died arrived at the hospital with advanced dengue and were very weak. We tried hard to save them but failed," he explained.

Head of Indramayu's health office, Dadang Supriyadi, said on Monday his administration had declared 43 villages in 17 districts prone to dengue fever. The regency has 1.9 million people in its 28 districts.

Apart from dengue fever, a variety of ailments characterized by severe diarrhea were on the increase, claiming 33 lives in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) in the last three months and at least two in Ambon, Maluku.

Head of the NTT health prevention office, Fransiskus A. Pello, said on Monday that the actual illness causing the severe diarrhea was not yet known.

"Medical professionals suspect it might be caused by consuming contaminated water. But at the moment, we're still studying the real cause," he said.

In Ambon, two people died after being admitted to the hospital with ailments accompanied by severe diarrhea in the last week and many more, mostly children, were rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.

Director of Dr. Haulussy Public Hospital, Yopy Manuputty, said on Monday that the hospital had tested 10 fecal matter samples from patients with diarrhea. And nine of them tested positive for diarrhea, he explained.

In Karangpanjang community health center, a nurse said that the center received 10 to 17 patients with similar symptoms of severe diarrhea.

As of Monday, 72 patients were at Dr. Haulussy hospital with severe diarrhea, 47 in Gereja Protestan Maluku Hospital, 20 in military hospital, 11 in Bakti Rahayu Hospital, nine in Al-Fatah hospital and 1 in Al-Muqadam hospital.