Dengue fever kills 10 in North Sumatra

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

An outbreak of dengue fever has hit several regencies in North Sumatra this year, leaving at least 10 people, mostly children, dead and 280 others hospitalized, it was reported on Thursday.

They said the disease, carried by Aedes aegepty mosquitoes, started to spread last January, but the 10 deaths were just recorded between March and September.

Two of the deaths were reported on Tuesday and Wednesday from the Sari Mutiara and Pirngadi hospitals in Medan.

The outbreak of dengue fever led to the dismissal on Wednesday of Medan health office head Herman Sadeck, who called for a plan to investigate all swallow aviaries in the province, as he believed they were breeding areas for Aedes aegepty.

Swallow nests, made from the bird's saliva, are a source of traditional medicine and a large revenue source in North Sumatra.

Medan Mayor Abdillah appointed Syahrial R. Anas as the acting head of the Medan health office to replace Herman.

"It's better for me not to make any comment. I want to rest," Herman told The Jakarta Post when asked about the reasons for his dismissal.

Syahrial, who is the current director of the Pirngadi hospital, said on Thursday that he received reports from 54 hospitals that at least one patient died on Tuesday and 40 others were being treated.

Another sufferer, identified as Karunia Tambunan, 6, died at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday while being treated at the Pirngadi hospital.

According to data from the North Sumatra provincial health office, the number of dengue fever cases hit 280 between Jan. 15 and September.

However, most of the 280 patients have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals, said Syahrial, who also chairs a special team to curb the spread of dengue fever.

The 10 dead were mostly from Medan. Two of them were from the regencies of Padangsidempuan and Karo respectively, he added.

Syahrial said the Medan administration was sending a car equipped with smoke spraying equipment to kill the mosquitoes in villages across the city.

He said he had also ordered leaders of community health centers (Puskesmas) in villages to go out into the community to search for and destroy the breeding areas for the mosquitoes.