Dengue fever to soar again in May and June, officials says

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While the public is preoccupied with the spate of recent polio cases of late, the Jakarta administration called on Saturday for residents to stay vigilant against dengue fever, which is on the rise again.

"We have observed in the past several years that sporadic rains coupled with generally arid weather ahead of the dry season has resulted in perfect circumstances for mosquitoes, including the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypty, to breed," City Health Agency spokesperson Zelvyno said.

Zelvyno explained that since most dengue fever outbreaks were closely related to poor hygiene and bad habits of letting trash lie around neighborhoods, the administration could only prepare by making sure it had enough medicine to treat the disease after someone contracts it.

Dengue fever regularly spikes in Jakarta, usually every four to five years. The virus is transmitted by the "bite" of the Aedes mosquito -- a day biter, which breeds in stagnant water and has "tiger-striped" appendages.

The health agency stated that this month alone (as of May 19) at least six patients had died out of 778 hospitalized for dengue.

Last month, dengue infected 1,236 residents and claimed three lives, lower than the cases reported in March -- 1,626 with five fatalities.

The highest number of fatalities were reported in February in which 2,487 people were treated in hospitals and 10 of them died.

East Jakarta municipality is the area with the most dengue cases discovered since January -- with a total of 2,099 cases. In South Jakarta and West Jakarta, the agency reported 1,765 cases (17 fatalities) and 1,124 cases (1 fatalities), respectively, while North Jakarta and Central Jakarta had 1,333 cases (1 fatality) and 973 (four fatalities), respectively .

The administration said it had tried to promote a clean-up campaign on Fridays throughout the city, however, thus far it has not been very consistent. The administration has laid the blame on people who live in upmarket housing complexes, who refuse to allow their homes to be fumigated every week. But many of those residents have argued that their neighborhoods were already free of trash and mosquitoes.