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Hospitals in Central Java report spread of dengue fever
Go away!: A worker from a pest control firm uses a fogging machine to kill mosquitoes at Elizabeth Hospital in Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday
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Go away!: A worker from a pest control firm uses a fogging machine to kill mosquitoes at Elizabeth Hospital in Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday. Several regions across the country have recently reported outbreaks of dengue fever, a disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.(JP/Suherdjoko) (JP/Suherdjoko)
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span class="inline inline-center">Go away!: A worker from a pest control firm uses a fogging machine to kill mosquitoes at Elizabeth Hospital in Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday. Several regions across the country have recently reported outbreaks of dengue fever, a disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.(JP/Suherdjoko)
The rise in dengue hemorrhagic fever (DBD) cases continued on Wednesday in a number of regions across the country, with Boyolali, Central Java, reporting four deaths.
Boyolali-run hospital RSUD Pandanarang was treating 26 DBD patients on Wednesday. It treated 54 cases in January, including the four fatalities.
'The four patients who died came to the hospital when their conditions were already critical, and they were difficult to treat,' said physician Nur Alifah at the hospital.
Nur said that RSUD Pandan Arang had been receiving DBD patients every day since early January. They were normally sent home after being treated for three to four days at the hospital, she said.
Besides Boyolali, the disease is on the rise in at least in six other regions in the province, including Surakarta, Sragen, Klaten and Wonogiri, with Sragen reported to be the worst hit.
Since the start of the year, Sragen has recorded 87 cases of DBD patients admitted to the regency-run hospital RSUD Soehadi Prijonegoro.
Head of the Sragen Health Agency's disease control and environmental health (P2PL) division, Retno DK, said that 18 out of the 20 districts in the regency were suffering DBD outbreaks, with Tangen, Kedawung, Jenar and Miri enduring the worst outbreaks since 2013.
'The others are still sporadic, but they need to be cautioned,' Retno said.
She said since December last year, her office had been working to prevent DBD by, among other things, simultaneously eradicating mosquito nests in all districts every month.
'Not by fogging, but by having people clearing ditches and stagnant water. That's the most effective way of stopping the Aedes aegypti mosquito from breeding,' Retno said, referring to the vector of DBD.
Wonogiri regency recorded two fatalities out of 20 DBD patients during January. The regency-run
hospital RSUD Sudiran Mangun Sumarso has treated 20 DBD patients since the start of the year, most of them children between 5 and 15 years of age.
In Klaten, one of the 11 recorded DBD patients in January did not survive. The regency-run hospital RSUP Dr. Soeradji Tirtonegoro had treated 11 DBD patients as of Wednesday, all of whom improved.
'They will be sent home in one or two days,' head of Klaten Health Agency's animal-borne disease control section, Wahyuning Nugraheni, said on Wednesday.
Surakarta has recorded only six cases of DBD this year, but the City Health Agency is expecting outbreaks to peak in May.
The city has called on people to be cautious and to eradicate mosquito nests.
Head of the agency's P2PL division, Evi Setyowati Pertiwi, said her office had set a target of having 50 percent of the city's 51 subdistricts free from DBD this year.
Meanwhile in West Tanjung Jabung, Jambi, the regency health agency recorded 28 DBD cases during January. In most cases the sufferers were children under 15 years of age.
'We have been anticipating this since before we entered the rainy season,' the West Tanjung Jabung Health Agency's P2PL division head, Sekarti Kani Santi, said on Wednesday.
She said the highest number of DBD cases found among children were in Tungkal Ilir district, which has long been known as an endemic area for the disease.
She said so far no fatality had been reported in the outbreak. 'All of the patients have been dealt with through medication and treatment and all have also been sent home,' she said.
