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Bekasi records spike in dengue fever cases
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A worker sprays insecticide with a fogging machine to eradicate mosquitoes in a residential area of Bintaro, South Tangerang, recently. As the rainy season continues, efforts to prevent dengue outbreaks caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquito have been intensified.
(The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana )
T
he Bekasi Health Agency has recorded a spike in the number of dengue fever cases in the first month of this year as the mosquito-borne virus is on the rise in several regions of the country.
There were 75 cases of dengue fever in the municipality of Bekasi in West Java as of Jan 28, the agency’s head of disease control and prevention, Dezi Syukrawati, said, noting that the number was higher than the 49 cases recorded in the same period last year.
“We are on alert and observing the trend of the dengue virus in Bekasi,” she said on Monday, as reported on kompas.com.
She explained that the data had been collected from public and private hospitals in the city.
Dezi suggested that private hospitals across the city report the number of dengue fever patients, so that the agency could take immediate action in the most-affected areas.
“We are in touch with all private companies to report dengue fever case numbers once in 24 hours. This will enable us to prevent infection as well as map the affected areas for immediate action,” she said.
She also urged Bekasi residents to keep their houses clean in order to prevent swarms of mosquitos following the rainy season, when puddles of standing water offer plenty of breeding places for Aedes mosquitoes.
Last year, the agency recorded a total of 629 cases of dengue fever in Bekasi, with two deaths. The number had slightly decreased from 699 cases with two deaths recorded in 2017. (sau)
