Two more die from dengue fever in N. Sumatra

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Two more children were reported to have died from the outbreak of dengue fever that has been plaguing several parts of North Sumatra, bringing the death toll to at least 12 victims since March.

Health officials said on Friday that the two children, Perdinan Berutu, 4, from Satria village in Tebing Tinggi regency, and Fauzan, 5, from Medan, died in local hospitals on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

Syahrial R. Anas, acting head of the Medan health office, said the children died after suffering from severe hemorrhaging.

In fact, the deaths could have been prevented if the families of the victims had taken the children to hospital immediately for treatment.

"Parents can take early measures by giving their infected children enough fluids and anti-fever drugs so as to reduce their temperatures before bringing them to the hospital," he told The Jakarta Post.

Responding to the controversy over the swallow aviaries that are believed to be the breeding places of Aedes aegepti mosquitoes in the province, Syahrial said his office has sent a team to inspect 60 of the 600 such aviaries in Medan.

The environmental health technical center at the Medan health office recently found that 90 percent of the swallow aviaries served as breeding places for the disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Swallows' nests, cemented together by the birds' saliva, are used in traditional medicine and are a major source of income in North Sumatra. --JP