T

he East Java provincial administration has declared an extraordinary situation (KLB) status over an outbreak of dengue fever, which has hit 1,054 patents, 25 of whom have died, in 38 regencies and cities.

The head of the Provincial Health Agency, Harsono, said that the KLB status was effective for 11 regions in the province.

They include the regencies of Jombang, Banyuwangi, Probolinggo, Kediri, Sumenep, Pamekasan, Nganjuk, Trenggalek, Mojokerto and Madiun as well as Madiun city.

'€œGovernor Soekarwo has told heads of the respective regions to increase their alertness,'€ Harsono said in Surabaya on Sunday.

Harsono said the number of people who had contracted dengue fever in the province'€™s 38 regencies and cities had reached 1,054, 25 of whom did not survive.

He also said that apart from the administration'€™s role, the public'€™s active involvement was needed as well to prevent the spread of the disease that can affect anybody at any age.

He said the most effective way of fighting against the disease was to prevent the Aedes aegypti mosquito from breeding by eradicating the mosquito'€™s nests through, among other things, the 3M procedure.

3M stands for mengubur (burying), menguras (draining) and menutup (covering), referring to how to eliminate standing stagnant water in which the mosquitoes breed.

'€œThe effectiveness of PSN (Pemberantasan Sarang Nyamuk '€” the campaign against dengue fever) movement can be seen in Mojokerto and Surabaya that last year were categorized as dengue-fever-endemic areas,'€ Harsono said.

Data from the provincial administration show that most cases of dengue fever in the province were recorded in January or December. Of the more than 26,000 cases of dengue fever in 2010, for example, some 5,500 occurred in January.

Similarly, of the nearly 5,500 cases in 2011, more than 1,000 occurred in January, while of the more than 8,000 cases recorded in 2012, more than 1,000 occurred in December.

East Java Deputy Governor Saifullah Yusuf expressed hope that people would exercise increased caution over the possible spread of dengue fever and would not underestimate the danger if they found a family member showing symptoms of the disease.

'€œDon'€™t wait until the body temperature becomes very high. Take them to the hospital to prevent the worst from happening,'€ Saifullah said.

Separately, the Ngawi regency health agency reported that eight of its 19 districts were dengue-fever-endemic areas.

The head of the agency'€™s disease mitigation section, Jaswadi, said that the eight districts were Karangjati, Bringin, Padas, Gerih, Ngawi Kota, Mantingan, Sine and Pitu.

'€œThe number of sufferers is indeed increasing and this needs special attention,'€ Jaswadi told reporters in Ngawi.

He said that during the period of Jan. 1 to Jan. 23, there were 22 cases of dengue fever in Ngawi, of which one ended up as a fatality.

According to Jaswadi, people started to contract the disease when this rainy season started in October 2014 and they continue catching it up to the present.

Meanwhile, in Madiun, the disease was reported to have contracted 52 people until Jan. 23.

The head of the Madiun Health Agency'€™s disease prevention and people'€™s health division, Agung Tri Widodo, said the people who contracted it were spread out in 15 districts in the regency.

'€œOf the districts, Geger recorded the most cases with 15 percent of the cases,'€ Agung told reporters on Friday.