Dengue prevention must be constant, expert says

Dengue prevention must be constant, expert says

Leony Aurora and Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Jayapura

A lack of post-outbreak action is blamed for the recurrence of
dengue fever and the country's failure to eradicate the disease,
a tropical disease specialist said on Saturday.

Leonard Nainggolan, from the University of Indonesia, said,
after a public discussion at Mitra Keluarga hospital, Kelapa
Gading, North Jakarta, that the eradication from neighborhoods of
possible mosquito breeding grounds should be maintained
throughout the year.

"Draining and covering water tanks and burying unused water
containers should not stop after the rainy season. Such action
should continue throughout the year," he said.

In dengue-prone areas like Jakarta, many people are infected
all year round, with a peak every five years.

Across Indonesia, dengue cases have always existed throughout
the year. Since 1990, an average 17,000 people have been infected
by the virus every year.

The latest data shows that within the first three months of
this year, some 35,000 people were infected by dengue fever, with
427 dead.

Leonard said the outbreak this year was a belated peak after
the last in 1998 when 71,776 cases were found and about 2,440
people died.

The case fatality rate (CFR), which measures the number of
fatalities among patients, for this year's outbreak has dropped
to 1.2 percent from 1.8 percent on March 1.

Leonard attributed the decline to the fact that people had
become much more alert.

"There are also many false positive cases," he added.

On the other hand, with better knowledge of the disease,
health workers managed to improve their treatment and saved
patients.

The government has set a target of reducing the CFR to 1
percent by May. The Ministry of Health recently announced a plan
to recruit and train 70,000 health workers to eradicate diseases
like dengue fever, treat the sick and educate people on how to
prevent the virus from spreading.

However, no timeframe has been given for this campaign, which
is expected to cost over Rp 1 trillion (US$118 million).

Meanwhile, in Papua, despite the decline in the national CFR,
the dengue fever outbreak in the country's easternmost province
remains out of control as the number of dengue patients has
continued to increase. As of Saturday 122 people had been
infected, with one dead.

Paminto Widodo, coordinator of the Health Crisis Center (HCC)
in the provincial capital, Jayapura, said the fever had spread to
five regencies, with Sorong in West Irian Jaya the most affected.

"There are 65 patients in Sorong mayoralty, compared with 20
in Jayapura municipality, 16 in Merauke regency, 12 in Sorong
regency and eight in Jayapura regency," Paminto said.

He added that besides fumigating all areas vulnerable to an
outbreak, his office had sent field workers across the province
to disseminate information on dengue fever and necessary
preventive measures.