The outcome of dengue virus test to be made public on Wednesday Eva C. Komandjaja The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The Ministry of Health will complete a test on dengue fever virus this coming Wednesday and will announce it to public, an official has said.
After completing the test, the Minister is expected to announce the type of the virus that spread fatal dengue disease in many regions recently.
The test would also reveal whether the virus is a new strain or not, Mariani Reksoprodjo, the spokeswoman of the ministry, said over the weekend.
But, Mariani could not elaborate whether the samples for the test were taken from various areas across the country, as there is a possibility that different viruses might infect different areas.
The outcome of the test will lay basis for further study, aimed at finding vaccine that can help cure the disease.
Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are caused by one of four closely related, but antigenically distinct, virus serotypes -- DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4 -- of the genus Flavivirus.
Infection with one of these serotypes does not provide cross- protective immunity.
So far, there is no vaccine found for this disease. Domestic and foreign scientists are currently developing it, however, it might take time up to three or four years away from now to complete the job.
Asked on the latest data on the human toll caused by the dengue outbreak, Mariani said that more than 200 people had become the victims of the disease, with more than half of provinces across archipelago were affected by it.
As of Saturday afternoon, 215 people had died and 11,013 had become infected with the mosquito-borne virus in 19 provinces, said Mariani.
They are Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Riau, Jambi, Banten, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Jogjakarta, East Java, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, and Papua.
The Ministry of Health has called the outbreak an "extraordinary" one because the number of infections is more than double those in the same period last year.
In general, the cases have shown an increasing trend over the past four years, from 21,134 in 1999, 33,443 in 2000, 45,904 in 2001, 40,377 in 2002 to 50,131 in 2003.
Cases of dengue have been increasing annually across Southeast Asia, the World Health Organization has said. Dengue also peaks in cycles of about five years and the current infections come at the peak of that cycle, it said.
Dengue fever, carried by the aedes aegypti mosquito, strikes Indonesia every year, starting in January and peaking in May or June at the end of the tropical rainy season.
Meanwhile, the dengue fever continued to strike in the regions. At least seven people have reportedly died of dengue fever in Sikka district in East Nusa Tenggara province, a local health official said Monday.
Head of Sikka health office Dr Ignatius Henyo Kerong said that of 79 people infected with the dengue fever recently, seven have died. He said the victims in general are school-aged children.
He called on the public to remain in full alert and continue to clean up the breeding ground of "aedes aegypti" mosquito which carries the deadly disease virus.
In Banda Aceh, 28 local residents had been infected with the disease since January this year, but no fatalities were found yet, said a local health official Muhammad Hasan.