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)