Palu braces for dengue outbreak

Palu braces for dengue outbreak

PALU, Central Sulawesi: The Palu municipal health agency is on
alert for the start of what could be the worst dengue fever
outbreak since 1998, when 16 people were killed by the disease.

Agency chief Abdullah said that with the land on which the
city was built having a surface declivity of 15 degrees, the city
was mostly free of waterlogged areas, the favorite breeding
places of the aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries the disease.

But the lack of awareness of good sanitation among local
people had made the city one of the most susceptible areas to
dengue fever in the country, Abdullah said.

The last dengue outbreak here five years ago affected 470
people, 16 of whom died. In 2001, the disease left two people
dead and 70 others hospitalized.

He said he could order fumigation to prevent dengue fever, but
such a move would be insufficient without the full participation
of the public.

He suggested that local media place or broadcast public
information announcements to heighten people's awareness of
dengue fever. -- Antara