Malaria kills 10 in Banjarnegara

BANJARNEGARA, Central Java (JP): At least 10 people have died and dozens others have been treated for malaria after an outbreak of the potentially fatal disease hit the village of Karanganyar last month, a non-governmental organization revealed on Monday.

Budi Hermanto, the chairman of Peduli Lingkungan, said that the victims did not go to the nearest community health center as they believed they were suffering from a cold.

Budi said he regretted local health officials' poor response to the outbreak of malaria in the village, which is in the district of Purwonegoro in Banjarnegara regency.

"Why didn't the community health centers take any action even though many people died from malaria," Budi said.

"The health centers should have been alerted to the fact that there were many complaints about the same symptoms. They should have realized what the cause was and taken prompt action to help the patients."

He said that the disease had likely spread to the neighboring villages of Kaliajir, Kalitengah, Merden and Pucungbedung in the district of Purwonegoro.

Internist Dr. Budi Leksono confirmed the outbreak, saying that malaria was an endemic disease in Banjarnegara, a town some 200 kilometers southeast of provincial capital Semarang.

"We have been watching it for a long time. The illness usually appears before the rainy season," the doctor told The Jakarta Post.

He said that free fumigation was carried out on residents' homes. "But I have to admit that there is poor information on everything related to the disease. We can blame the community health centers for that. They should have reported any signs of strange diseases in the regency to us.

"Those who died from malaria refused to be hospitalized, believing that they would get better after having a brief visit at the health center or hospital," Budi said.