Malaria relapse affects 500

Malaria relapse affects 500

PURWOKERTO, Central Java: Lack of control in the use of anti-
malarial drugs and abatement programs have caused malaria to
spread further in Banyumas regency, Central Java, affecting at
least 500 people.

Musadad Bikry Noor, chairman of Commission E for people's
welfare at the local legislature, said that the disease recurred
because many local people did not take the anti-malaria drugs for
the full term and the regency health office did not complete the
abatement program.

Malaria hit the regency earlier this year, attacking at least
10,000 people and claiming 107 lives. The health office stopped
the anti-malaria spraying program after covering only 1,500
houses.

Musadad said that the incomplete medication would make the
recurrence of malaria more difficult to handle since the virus in
the would now become more resistant to drugs.

Kemranjen, Tambak, Sumpiuh and Somageda are the four districts
that have been hit by malaria virus. Musadad said that of 56
people tested, some 40 percent were positive for malaria. --JP