Diarrhea and dengue outbreak worsen

The Jakarta Post, Semarang/Kupang

Two-year-old Aisyah Maulid lay quietly in a hospital bed, accompanied by her father, Mudai, and mother, Sri Mahmudah, as she was being treated at the Roemani hospital in Semarang for dengue fever.

Mudai said on Wednesday that he took his daughter to the hospital four days earlier because of her high fever.

"She was previously diagnosed with a lung ailment and sent home. But since her temperature continued to rise, we brought her here, and it turns out she has dengue fever," the resident of Bangetayu Wetan village said.

Six-month-old Mutiarani was taken to the hospital after three days of severe diarrhea.

"Our local doctor told us to take her to this hospital, but the problems remain and she still refuses to eat," said her mother Wahyuni on Wednesday at Roemani hospital.

At Roemani Hospital, as many as 21 people, 18 of them children and babies, are being treated for severe diarrhea, but doctors have not made clear the exact ailment that is causing the diarrhea cases. At the Dr. Kariadi Hospital there are about 18 outpatients suffering from dengue symptoms.

"This month alone, we have treated 89 patients with severe diarrhea while 16 others have dengue fever," Roemani Hospital director Edy Sumarwanto said.

Last year, the hospital treated 990 patients with diarrhea and 322 people with dengue. Twelve of those patients died, he said.

"Those who died were usually brought here after their condition had already advanced to a serious stage."

Edy urged people to immediately consult their physicians if they noticed spotting or dengue fever symptoms occurring, or if they experienced frequent bowel movements.

In East Nusa Tenggara, three more people died due to complications associated with severe diarrhea, thought to be produced by e coli bacteria, bringing the total death toll there to 20.

The worst outbreak has occurred in the regency of East Flores, where 16 people have died and 993 are being treated for chronic diarrhea. In Belu regency, two people have died and 24 more are in the hospital, while in Kupang, bacterial infections killed two people and hospitalized 11.

Head of the welfare section at the province's social affairs office, Fransiska Palan Bolen, said on Wednesday that officials were still closely monitoring diarrhea and dengue fever cases in several regencies.

"Of the 20 people who died, 18 of them died from dehydration caused by diarrhea and the remaining two deaths in Belu were caused by complications associated with pneumonia," Fransiska said.

In the past week, the number of people affected by diarrhea in the province has been on the increase. In Larantuka, the figure rose from 134 to 354; in Witihama from 73 to 207; Klubagoit from 14 to 17; East Solor from 149 to 151; and West Adonara from one to six cases.