Dengue may be more serious this year
Dengue may be more serious this year
JAKARTA (JP): A municipal health official has revealed that
despite the successful war against the hemorrhagic fever, the
number of sufferers in Jakarta this year is expected to rise.
In an interview with The Jakarta Post, Dr. Soeharto
Wirjowidagdo, head of the municipal health office, estimates the
number of people plagued by the fever in the city this year to
reach between 2,900 to 3,000.
In the past five months 943 have already been infected and 14
have died, he said.
"We are doing the best we can with our limited budget,"
Soeharto said while acknowledging that this year's prediction is
higher than the 1993 total of 2,263 victims.
"Last year we feared a recurrence of the five-year cycle which
traditionally marks a large-scale dengue epidemic, thus we
doubled our efforts to suppress it," he said.
He said the hemorrhagic fever has been one of the major
concerns in maintaining community health in Jakarta over the past
10 years.
"Over 1,100 have died and 52,300 others have been infected
since 1973, Soeharto said.
Children between the ages of five and 14 are most susceptible
to the disease which is transmitted through the aedes aegypti
mosquito.
The fever was first detected in Jakarta in 1968 and has a
tendency to reach a peak every five years with a mass increase of
sufferers, often doubling the number of the year before.
In 1983, the fifth year in a cycle, the number of sufferers
reached 3,100 with 70 deaths, around twice the previous year's
total of 1,615 sufferers and 37 dead.
The next five-year cycle in 1988 saw the number swell to
10,647 with 111 deaths. This number nearly tripled the 1987 total
of 3,845 sufferers.
In anticipation of the next cycle, in 1993, the health office
together with municipal authorities took extensive measures to
curb the spread of the disease. Their efforts were successful in
keeping the number of victims to one-fifth of the 1988 totals.
Soeharto said that despite last year's success the disease can
only be averted if the community continues to raise its awareness
of what constitutes a sanitary environment.
The aedes aegypti lays its eggs in exposed, clean bodies of
water, he explained.
The virus-carrying mosquito can be found near areas inhabited
by people where there is also exposed water. During mating
season, the female mosquito needs protein from human blood to
help her lay eggs.
East Jakarta
It is thus not surprising that the highest incidence of
hemorrhagic fever is found in the densely populated mayoralties
of East and Central Jakarta, Soeharto said.
He added that nearly 55 percent of cases reported this year
have originated in those two mayoralties.
"Though North Jakarta is also densely populated the aedes
aegypti will not go there because the water is dirty and salty,"
Soeharto said.
Out of the five mayoralties, North Jakarta seems to be the
safest place from the fever with less than a hundred cases
reported over the past five months.
Despite the various efforts of the health office, Soeharto
pointed out that the problem is directly associated with
economics and social welfare.
"Only when we have an environment and a welfare level like
Singapore can we truly hope to eliminate the disease," he said.
Soeharto further said that conditions here attract the disease
such as the custom in most households to retain water in bathtubs
which serves as a potentially fertile place for mosquito
breeding.
He added that though the practice of spraying insecticides
helps alleviate the danger, it is only a stopgap solution.
"It only kills the mosquitoes already alive, it doesn't kill
the eggs in the water," he remarked.
For that reason Soeharto strongly appealed for all to actively
guard against any exposed water pool that might serve as a
nesting ground for the aedes aegypti.
"If there must be one outside the house make sure it is shut
tight," Soeharto advised. (mds)