Govt warns of a new dengue fever virus

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Yogyakarta

The government has warned that a more virulent form of the dengue fever virus may be responsible for the current outbreak that has claimed at least 77 lives over the past month.

The director of communicable diseases at the Ministry of Health, Umar Fahmi, said on Monday the new virus appeared to be a more virulent strain due to the faster spread of the disease and the larger number of deaths.

"We suspect the cause of the fever might be a new type of virus, probably a combination of two different strains. We will conduct research on the suspected new strain and announce the results next week," said Umar.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, the death rate from dengue fever this year has doubled from the same period last year. There is no vaccine for dengue fever, which is transmitted by the aedes aegypty mosquito.

The government has said the current dengue fever outbreak is a five-year cycle of the disease on Java island. Health minister Ahmad Sujudi said on Monday the cycle used to be more serious and claim more lives.

Jakarta and East Java have been hardest hit by the new outbreak, with over 3,000 cases and 54 deaths combined.

The fever has spread rapidly across the Greater Jakarta with hospitals receiving patients not only from Jakarta, but also from Depok and Bekasi in the neighboring province of West Java.

Sujudi said the high number of deaths was largely the result of patients not receiving treatment in a timely manner.

The minister said the government was providing doctors with training on how to identify dengue fever. He also urged doctors to quickly order a blood test for patients with a high fever.

The government has ordered hospitals across the country to provide immediate care for dengue fever patients, including the poor.

"The poor can use the health cards given to them by the government to receive care. The government will take the funds from the fuel subsidy," said the minister.

Umar Fahmi added that the government would deploy family planning field workers to approximately 10,000 villages across the country to help disseminate information on how to prevent dengue fever.

However, Sujudi said his ministry had only received Rp 10 billion (US$1.2 million) to contain the spread of the disease, adding that he would request additional funding.

In Yogyakarta, the local health agency has found 301 dengue fever cases, with 13 deaths, over the past two month. Yogyakarta mayoralty has been hardest hit with 150 cases, followed by Bantul regency with 67 and Kulonprogo regency with 50.

Sleman Regent Ibnu Subiyanto said his administration had released Rp 1.5 billion in emergency funds to contain the outbreak. The regency has registered 34 dengue fever cases, with seven deaths.

"This is a very serious emergency because we have had seven deaths in only two weeks. So, we released the emergency funds immediately," Ibnu said.

The head of communicable diseases at the Bantul Health Agency, Aries Suranto, warned that the number of cases could double or even triple this year.

Provincial health agency head Choirul Anwar said that more needed to be done to eliminate mosquito larvae in Yogyakarta.

Number of dengue fever cases in Indonesia ----------------------------------------------------------------- Location Number of cases Deaths ----------------------------------------------------------------- West Java (Indramayu, Depok, Bogor) 710 10 East Java 1,189 38 Yogyakarta 301 13 Jakarta 2,046 16 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Ministry of Health