Gunung Kidul prone to dengue epidemics

Gunung Kidul prone to dengue epidemics

YOGYAKARTA: At least 17 of 114 villages in the Gunung Kidul
regency are prone to dengue fever epidemics, says a local
official.

"The villages that are prone to the epidemics are located in
water-rich subdistricts in the regency while the dengue fever has
rarely hit subdistricts lacking clean water," Wahyudi, chief of
the Gunung Kidul health ministry office, said when launching an
anti-dengue campaign in Wonosari on Wednesday.

He said the campaign would be conducted not only in the
villages prone to the epidemics but also in schools in the
regency because the illness had frequently struck elementary and
junior high school students.

This year, the local administration has recorded 78 dengue
cases that have claimed five lives.

"During the week-long campaign, local people and students will
be asked to keep their surroundings, including their houses,
clean and to spray their surroundings to prevent aedis Aegypty
mosquitoes from transmitting the disease," he said. --Antara