Thousands of dengue cases treated at city hospitals

Multa Fidrus ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  BANTEN/JAKARTA   |  Wed, 02/25/2009 9:48 AM  |  City

Jakarta has seen 4,458 dengue fever patients treated in 80 hospitals between the beginning of the year and Feb. 24, an official said Tuesday.

Twelve people died as a result of the disease, said Edwin Nasli, head of environmental health at the city health agency.

To address the high rate of cases, the city plans to improve the effectiveness of mosquito larvae monitors (jumantik), he said.

The effort is part of the city’s program to remove all potential mosquito breeding grounds.
“Starting 2009, the administration requires all low- to high-ranking officials to participate in the program [to curb the number of mosquitoes],” Edwin said.

Between 9 and 9:30 a.m. ever Friday, officers ask residents to clean the houses, office areas and public facilities, including schools, hospitals, places of worship and markets.

He said the public must be reminded every week that even the cleanest neighborhood could have larvae.

“Everyone is responsible for keeping their house clear of mosquito larvae,” he said.

“If a house is found to have larvae, its owners can be fined under a 2007 bylaw.”

There were also many dengue patients in Tangerang this wet season, although the number was not as high as in Jakarta.

From January to Feb. 24, Tangerang regency saw 88 cases of dengue fever, said Yuli Sunar Dewanti, the head of communicable diseases at Tangerang Health Agency, on Tuesday.

Banten Heath Agency official Suharno said 128 children had dengue fever in Serang between January and Feb. 24.

One of the patients, a 10-year-old boy, died Sunday.

The chief of treatment at Serang General Hospital, Firman, said the boy died because he arrived at the hospital too late.

In 2008, there were 1,080 cases of dengue fever in the Tangerang regency with the municipality experiencing 884 and eight people dying.

Suharno said the status of extraordinary, which was declared in Serang municipality and Pandeglang regency last year, must not happen again this year.

He urged residents to participate in the administration’s program to destroy mosquito breeding grounds by burying used containers and cleaning water storage containers regularly.

The administration has only allocated Rp 563 million from the budget to cope with dengue fever this year, Suharno said.

“The budget will be used to purchase medical equipment, insecticide, larvicide and swing fog.”
Suharno said the number of dengue fever cases tended to increase from year to year.

“Therefore, residents must be aware of the importance of fogging. This activity can only be done where dengue is found,” he said.

Fogging can cause the mosquitos to become immune against the insecticide, not to mention air pollution, he said.

Based on the Banten Health Agency data, the number of dengue fever cases in Banten province reached 3,954 last year, with 53 deaths.

Tangerang regency had the highest number of dengue cases with a total of 1,080, followed by Tangerang municipality with a total of 884 cases.

Serang regency was third with 598 dengue fever cases, followed by Serang municipality with 581 cases.

There were with 297 cases in Cilegon municipality, 285 cases in Lebak regency and 229 cases in Pandeglang regency .

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