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.