Dengue fever kills five

JAKARTA (JP): Five out of 519 dengue fever sufferers treated in North Jakarta between January and March died, an official said Sunday.

"The five were residents of four subdistricts -- Lagoa, Semper Barat, Rawa Badak and Tugu Selatan," Bambang Irawan, head of the North Jakarta health office, said.

By comparison, the number of people who died of dengue fever in North Jakarta last year was nine, with the total number of sufferers reaching 656, Bambang said.

North Jakarta Mayor Soebagio said Sunday that the increased number of people suffering from dengue was due to the illness' trend to reach soaring proportions every five years.

"We have all been alerted about this trend and are ready to take action to eradicate the mosquitoes which spread the disease," Soebagio was quoted by Antara as saying.

He explained that one of the main causes for the dengue fever outbreak was residents' low awareness of the importance of keeping their surroundings clean in order to stop the mosquitoes breeding. (hhr)