Leptospirosis death toll increases

Leptospirosis death toll increases

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Another person was killed by the postflood infectious disease
leptospirosis on Thursday, bringing the death toll to nine.

The latest victim, identified as Siti Aminah, died after being
treated for several days at the city-owned Tarakan Hospital in
Central Jakarta. The 65-year-old woman was a resident of Palmerah
subdistrict, West Jakarta.

The disease, which is spread through rat urine, has infected
27 people. Five of them were still being treated at Tarakan
hospital and one at Pelni hospital, both in West Jakarta.

Head of the City Health Agency Chalik Masulili revealed that
subdistricts prone to the disease were Palmerah, Cengkareng and
Kembangan in West Jakarta; Menteng and Tanah Abang in Central
Jakarta; Penjaringan in North Jakarta and Cipinang Besar Utara in
East Jakarta.

So far, nobody has succumbed in South Jakarta.

Separately, City Governor Sutiyoso decided on Thursday to
offer free medical treatment to people suffering from the
disease.

"We decided to give free medical treatment because it's a new
disease that occurred after the floods," Sutiyoso told reporters
at City Hall.

The city administration had earlier announced its
controversial plan to stop free medical treatment for flood
victims, starting on Friday, due to a decrease in the number of
patients suffering from flood-related diseases, and, he alleged,
because many people had abused it.

Sutiyoso refused to declare the leptospirosis an outbreak, but
ordered the City Health Agency to carry out a rat extermination
program and step up public information about the disease.

Patients can be cured using antibiotics, but some died as they
were treated too late at the hospital.

The mortality rate of the disease is relatively high: seven
percent for people under 50, and 56 percent for those above 50.

The leptospire bacteria enter the human body through the eyes,
nose and especially punctured skin, via contaminated water or
garbage. In the early stages, patients suffer fever and vomit.