Dengue fever ramains a threat in Jakarta

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Dengue fever remains a threat in the capital especially when the wet season is ending and the dry season begins. Since early this month, new patients have been admitted to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) almost every single day.

Data from the hospital shows that from Monday to Saturday, five patients of dengue fever have been treated at the hospital.

Sumiati, a nurse in charge at the internal medicine section at the hospital, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that so far there had been no fatalities this month.

Section head for surveillance and epidemiology at the city health agency, Dr. Paripurna, announced last Wednesday that the illness had claimed 13 lives in the last 13 weeks.

But he revealed that the total cases of 940 was far smaller compared to a similar period last year which reached 3,465.

Data from RSCM shows that 26 patients of dengue fever were treated at the hospital last month. They were among 437 cases of dengue fever all over the capital.

Since dengue fever surfaced again in the capital in early January, the number of cases reached a peak with 134 cases in the third week of February, according to data issued by the city health agency.

The number of cases slightly decreased to 107 in the fourth week of February. But the number increased again in the first three weeks of March to 109, 157 and 135 before finally dropping to only 36 cases.

Despite the decreasing trend, Dr. Paripurna called on the people to remain alert for dengue fever as it was still raining in the capital.

The agency announced that dengue fever had been found in 42 districts throughout the city. The worst district is Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, with 59 cases followed by Kemayoran and Sawah Besar in Central Jakarta; Palmerah, Grogol Petamburan, Cengkareng, Taman Sari and Tambora in West Jakarta; Cilandak in South Jakarta; and Jatinegara, Duren Sawit, Kramat Jati and Pulo Gadung in East Jakarta.

Jakarta recorded 8,814 cases in 2001 with 22 deaths compared to a total of 1,993 cases in 2000 which left 15 people dead.

Dengue fever is transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypty mosquito, which lays its eggs on the surface of clean water. Because of this, areas that are inundated by rain are more likely to report cases of the disease.