Effectiveness of fumigation questioned

Effectiveness of fumigation questioned

JAKARTA (JP): City residents complained yesterday that
fumigation efforts to fight the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, the
carrier of the dengue fever virus, were largely ineffective.

The city health office announced yesterday that the number of
dengue fever patients in Jakarta totaled 4,980 as of yesterday
afternoon.

The outbreak's death toll currently numbers 50, it said.

Central Jakarta's Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital alone
has reported 15 deaths from the fever in the period between April
9 and April 21.

The city is fumigating a number of areas in an attempt to
blunt the quickening increase in dengue fever cases.

Residents of Menteng in Central Jakarta said, however, they
were alarmed to see live mosquitoes only two hours after the city
had fumigated the area.

"If there is nothing special in the spray to kill mosquitoes,
then I regret that we all had to pay Rp 1,000 each for it," said
Tati, 38, the grandmother of a dengue fever sufferer.

"Even ants and cockroaches were still alive after the
fumigation," she added.

Soeparmo, head of the City Council Commission E for social
welfare, expressed concern yesterday that residents had wrong
perceptions about the fumigations.

He said many people believed that the fumigations would
totally eradicate the Aedes Aegypti mosquito and thus rid them
from the virus.

"They think that they can sleep easy because all mosquitoes
are killed in a fumigation. They also think that there would be
no way that they could get infected by the fever after their
neighborhood is fumigated," he said.

"Well, we've got bad news for them. All those assumptions are
wrong. Fumigations are certainly not that effective because they
can't kill larva and embryos. So don't overly depend on it," said
Soeparmo.

The head of the Menteng public health center, Paris Sibuea,
shared Soeparmo's view, saying that it was important for
residents to actively participate in the effort to eradicate the
mosquitoes' habitat.

"The fumigations have no meaning if they're not followed by
people's active participation. It only kills mature mosquitoes
and has temporary effects," he said.

A massive campaign to clean up areas where mosquitoes breed is
scheduled for Sunday, March 26. All residents from the city's
five mayoralties are asked to participate.

Soeparmo also asked people to be patient if they wanted to
have their areas fumigated because the city lacked the needed
equipment. He said each district had only two sprayers each to
carry out fumigations.

He also reiterated that dengue fever did not only affect slum
areas as believed by some people.

Maryani, the public relations chief of the city's health
office, said a survey conducted late last month indicated that 11
out of 34 hospitals examined contained sites where mosquitoes
could easily breed.

"But it did not say whether the larva and embryos were of the
Aedes Aegypti species," she said yesterday.

Maryani said that school buildings, especially restrooms, were
also potential habitat for mosquitoes.

Soeparmo said the regular cleansing of water tanks, flower
vases, buckets and other areas where water collected was the most
important and effective method to break the mosquitoes' life
chain. (ivy/ind/cst)