D

engue fever has already claimed at least 38 lives in Bali this year, where there has been 7,794 reported cases of the viral infection, an official said.

The death toll from the first four months of the year, all within the rainy season, is almost double what it was in the same period last year.

Bali Health Agency head I Ketut Suarjaya told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that dengue cases were on the rise.

“Dengue fever continues to spread and has claimed an increasing number of fatalities,” Suarjaya said.

In 2015, from January until April, there were only 20 fatalities caused by dengue fever. The death toll for the whole year was only 28.

Those numbers were higher than in 2014 when dengue fever caused no deaths from January to April and just 17 deaths for the year.

Out of the 38 people who have died from the fever this year, 13 were in Denpasar, 11 in Buleleng, eight in Gianyar, five in Badung and one person in Jembrana.

At this stage only Gianyar has declared an extraordinary situation with regard to the dengue outbreak, due to the high number of fatalities.

Suarjaya said that the increasing number of deaths may have been caused by the long time people waited before going to the doctor.

“Most of the victims were taken to the hospital already in shock, which meant the treatment could no longer be effective,” he said.

Suarjaya said that many residents did not understand the characteristics of dengue fever.

Thus, the agency will intensively spread awareness of the dangers of dengue fever to residents, including instructions for handling patients.

The increase in dengue fever cases is alleged a result of residents’ lack of awareness of the environment.

He said that many people no longer implemented mosquito nest eradication methods in their homes and neighborhoods.

“Many people thought that fogging could solve the whole problem, which is not true. We hope people will seriously implement mosquito nest eradication,” he said.

The most effective way of fighting the disease, Suarjaya said, was to prevent the aedes aegypti mosquito from breeding by eradicating its nests. Common ways to do this include emptying or covering open containers that fill with rain water and recycling regularly changing over water in containers around the house.

The agency will run a mass mosquito nest eradication project this weekend, by deploying at least 2,500 university students as volunteers.

“In the first phase, the program will focus on Gianyar, the area with the highest fatality rate,” Suarjaya said.

The Indonesian Red Cross Bali chapter has anticipated an increased blood demand following the dengue fever outbreak.

The Red Cross have boosted their blood donations to increase its stores to fulfil the demand.

Until now, however, demand for blood is yet to increase.

“The demand for blood is still normal, at around 300 bags every month. That is for all needs, including thrombocyte replacement for dengue fever patients,” said Indonesian Red Cross’ head of blood transfusions Anak Agung Sagung Dwipayani.