Government declares end of dengue fever outbreak, lifts alert status
Sari P. Setiogi, Jakarta
The government declared the dengue fever outbreak over and lifted the red alert status in 12 provinces, as the prevalence rate had decreased to a baseline level.
Minister of Health Achmad Suyudi said the number of dengue cases had been decreasing since mid-April.
"In May, there were only 506 cases with four casualties, far below the 3,616 cases recorded a month earlier with 25 people succumbing to the disease. We can see that the number has declined significantly," Suyudi said on Wednesday.
He added the outbreak had slowed faster than the government had expected. In May last year, 6,425 cases were recorded, of which 78 died.
In February, the government placed Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, Banten, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, South Kalimantan and South Sulawesi under extraordinary status due to the high number of people affected by dengue fever.
The ministry recorded 59,321 cases and 669 deaths during this year's outbreak.
Four distinct, but closely related, serotypes cause dengue, with the Aedes aegypti mosquito the vector. All four serotypes, DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4, were found in dengue patients here, said the ministry's expert staff on environment, health and epidemiology, I Nyoman Kandun. Of these, DEN-3 is the most virulent form.
Blood samples from 10 Jakarta hospitals revealed that two- thirds of total patients were affected by the virulent DEN-3.
Dengue symptoms can range from mild, flu-like symptoms to its most severe form, called dengue hemorrhagic fever, or DHF. DHF causes damage to the blood vessels, leading to spontaneous bleeding and shock, and can be fatal.
Recovery from an infection caused by a particular serotype results in a lifelong immunity against that serotype, but provided only a partial, transient protection against subsequent infections by any of the other serotypes, he said.
During the outbreak, the government assigned 63 hospitals to give free treatment to people with dengue fever. It also allocated Rp 500 million to each "extraordinary" province to help eradicate the virus.
"As of today, we have reimbursed Rp 1.045 billion (US$112,365) in medical fees claimed by hospitals," said Suyudi.
Despite the normal status, the minister called on people to maintain precautionary measures, as the country was not yet dengue-free.
The government has long urged public participation in its dengue eradication program through a change in household habits, such as in draining open tanks, covering vats of bathing and standing water and burying used cans -- locally called the 3M measures -- to eliminate the breeding grounds of the Aedes aegypti.
Dengue fever was first recorded in 1968 in Surabaya and Jakarta, when it killed 24 people.
------------------------------------------
Incidence of Dengue Fever (1996-2004)
------------------------------------------
Year Cases Fatalities
------------------------------------------
1996 45,548 1,234
1997 31,784 705
1998 78,133 1,414
1999 21,134 442
2000 33,443 472
2001 45,904 497
2002 40,377 533
2003 50,200 813
2004 59,321 669
(as of May 31)
------------------------------------------
Source: Ministry of Health