Indonesia: Greater Jakarta on high alert for dengue fever

Agnes Anya, The Jakarta Post 3 Feb 16;

Following an “extraordinary situation” in Tangerang regency, where 13 people died of dengue fever in January alone, Greater Jakarta is on high alert for the disease.

Jakarta and South Tangerang have reported an increase in dengue cases, 38 percent and 11.34 percent, respectively.

Ni Wayan Manik Kusmayoni, disease control and environmental health (P2PL) division head of the Tangerang Health Agency, said that by the end of January, the regency had seen 270 residents infected with dengue fever, 13 of whom died from the disease.

“Compared to a similar report in the same month last year, the number of cases has jumped by twofold by January. We have set an extraordinary situation status for dengue fever,” Manik told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Manik said the situation had been predicted as records showed that the regency had been seeing a significant increase in dengue fever cases every three years.

She said the last significant jump of dengue fever cases was recorded in 2013. Manik, however, did not recall the total case number in that period. Aware of the three-year cycle, she said, the agency had taken preventive measures to reduce infection cases. She could not explain the reason behind the cycle.

She said the agency had distributed circulars to community health centers (Puskesmas) and neighborhood administrations in the region so they could prepare for the rainy season, during which dengue fever cases mostly occurred.

Manik said that the agency had been disseminating information to other parties, including Muslim preachers.

“We hope these religious leaders explain to others the importance of maintaining a clean and healthy environment during the rainy season,” Manik added.

South Tangerang Health Agency P2PL division head Tulus Muladiyono said that the region had yet to declare an extraordinary status over the outbreak. However, he said the city had seen an increase in infection cases.

Tulus said that by the end of January, the city had seen 108 cases of dengue fever, 11.34 percent higher compared to the same period last year, when 97 residents were infected.

Tulus went on to say that from 108 residents infected this year, two patients died. His agency had also distributed free Abate powder to residents.

Similar to Tangerang regency, Tulus claimed that South Tangerang had a five-year dengue fever cycle, with the last significant increase in dengue patients seen in 2011.

Jakarta Health Agency head Koesmedi Priharto said that Jakarta had yet to set an extraordinary status for dengue fever although it had been on alert due to a high increase in dengue fever cases.

Koesmedi explained that early this year, the agency had seen 611 cases of dengue fever, an increase from 443 cases in 2015.

He said that Jakarta had not experienced a regular cycle for dengue because he believed infections only occurred because of lacksadaical mosquito monitoring measures.

Unlike the three other regions, Tangerang city saw a decrease in dengue infections, said Tangerang Health Agency head Rostiwi. She said that by the end of January, Tangerang city had seen 20 cases, a decrease from the 25 cases recorded in the same month of last year.


Dengue fever cases on the rise in Gorontalo
The Jakarta Post 3 Feb 16;

Islands in focus: Third body found after landslide
Cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever in Gorontalo city are continuing to rise, with at least three people, two children and an adult woman, succumbing to the disease in January this year.

“The dead woman was a young housewife in Huangobotu subdistrict, the third victim to die in January,” Gorontalo Health Agency environmental health division head Dr. Yana Suleman said on Tuesday.

The latest victim was rushed to Aloei Saboe Regional Hospital, where she died less than 24 hours later. The area in which the deceased lived, Yana said, had in fact been fumigated earlier by city health officers.

“This can serve as a lesson for other residents that even with fumigation, environmental hygiene must be maintained,” said Yana.

In January, she added, at least 130 dengue cases had been recorded, with the mosquito-borne disease spreading to 27 of the city’s 50 subdistricts.

Toddler dies of dengue in C. Sulawesi
Antara 4 Feb 16;

Palu (ANTARA News) - A ten-month-old toddler from Sigi District in Central Sulawesi has died of dengue fever at the Undata General Hospital, according to the hospitals spokesperson, Dr Purwaningsih.

"One patient of dengue, a toddler aged ten months from Palopo sub-district, died on January 13, 2016, at the Undata hospital," Purwaningsih remarked here on Thursday.

She noted that the toddler died of dengue fever a day after being admitted to the hospital.

According to Purwaningsih, some 26 dengue patients were treated at the hospital from January until February, and four other patients are still in the hospital.

Despite the government having urged people in various provinces to be wary of dengue fever, a viral disease caused by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, the number of cases continues to soar in several Indonesian regions.

Dengue cases in Indonesia, a tropical country with a fast-growing population, increase from time to time, in spite of the struggle to win the battle against the disease during the rainy season this year.

Since January 2016, dengue cases were reported to have occurred in the provinces of Central Java, West Java, Bali, South Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, and Banten, among other places.

In Gunung Kidul district, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, the number of dengue fever cases continues to rise, and the figure has now reached 71.

Gunung Kidul Health Office Chief Agus Prihastoro remarked on Tuesday that the number of dengue cases since January 2016 has increased two-fold as compared to only 24 cases recorded in December 2015.

In the meantime, Central Java Health Office is focusing on reducing and preventing the number of cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever, which tends to increase during every rainy season.

"For prevention, we are trying to eradicate mosquito breeding grounds by burying, draining, and hoarding the scrap items that can retain water since fogging is now no longer able to eradicate mosquito larvae," Central Java Health Office Chief Yulianto Prabowo remarked in Semarang on Monday.

According to Prabowo, dengue fever usually peaks in January and February when the cases spread almost evenly in other areas.
(Uu.O001/INE/KR-BSR/F001)