Antara News, Thursday, January 21, 2010 11:02 WIB, Fardah
Jakarta ( ANTARA News) - As Indonesia has entered the rainy season, a number of diseases, such as chikungunya, dengue fever, diarrhea, bird flu and lymphatic filariasis, are threathening people in some areas.
Diseases like chikungunya, dengue fever, and lymphatic filariasis are spread through certain mosquito bites, while bird flu and diarrhea are usually rampant in a cold rainy season.
Rainy season has come in Indonesia since around November 2009. Over the past few months, Chikungunya cases have been reported especially in the provinces of South Sumatra, Bengkulu (Sumatra Island), South Kalimantan, Bangka Belitung, Lampung, Riau, Jambi, East Java, Central Java, and West Java,
Chikungunya (pronounced as chik`-en-GUN-yah) fever is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes - Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also called yellow fever mosquito. The symptoms include severe and persistent joint pain and fever similar to dengue fever. It is usually not life threatening. But the joint pains can last for a long time and hence full recovery may take months.
Chikungunya disease was first detected in 1952 in Africa at a place called Makonde Plateau located in a border area between Tanzania and Mozambique. The name "chikungunya" is from the Makonde language and its meaning is "that which bends up" as Chikungunya patients walk in a stooped posture due to joint pain. Chikungunya is also known as Chicken guinea, Chicken gunaya and Chickengunya.
The Aedes mosquitoes that transmit chikungunya breed in a wide variety of man-made containers which are common around human dwellings.
In December 2009, over 500 residents of Kayuagung and Tulung Selapan sub districts, Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) District, South Sumatra Province, were infected with chikungunya virus.
About 50 percent of 1,100 residents or 240 families at Guci village, Ujan Mas sub district, South Sumatra, were believed to be infected with chikungunya. In Tulung Selapan, there were about 500 patients and in Kayuagung around 30.
In last November 2009, chikungunya disease has affected around 500 residents in five sub districts in Rejang Lebong District, Bengkulu Province, Sumatra Island.
The local health service immediately conducted mosquito control fogging activity and distributed abate (potent micro-granule insecticide) to kill mosquito larvae, in the five affected sub districts, he said.
In South Kalimantan, chikungunya has infected a number of residents in 11 districts and cities since late 2009. Some 3,098 people in the 11 districts and cities of South Kalimantan were infected.
In Banjar district alone, some 1,622 residents of 33 villages in four sub districts suffered from chikungunya in early 2010. The local health authorities have declared the chikungunya cases an extraordinary happening.
Almost all districts in South Kalimantan Province, except Banjarmasin and Barito Kuala, were affected by Chikungunya, Rosihan Adhani, head of the South Kalimantan provincial health service, said early January 2010. The disease was predicted to continue affecting the districts until Frebruary 2010, he added.
Another mosquito-borne disease affecting some regions is lymphatic filariasis, known as Elephantiasis. Lymphatic filariasis is infection with the filarial worms, Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi or B. timori.
These parasites are transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito and develop into adult worms in the lymphatic vessels, causing severe damage and swelling (lymphoedema).
The infection can be treated with drugs. However, chronic conditions may not be curable by anti-filarial drugs and require other measures, for example surgery for hydrocele, care of the skin and exercise to increase lymphatic drainage in lymphoedema.
Lymphatic Filariasis puts at risk more than a billion people in more than 80 countries. Over 120 million have already been affected by it, over 40 million of them are seriously incapacitated and disfigured by the disease.
In Indonesia, lymphatic filariasis disease has been reportedly endemic in 368 of the country`s 471 districts/cities. The government has launched massive medication in order to completely eradicate the disease by 2018.
In Southeast Sulawesi, for instance, filariasis or elephantiasis cases have been reported occurring in six districts, namely Konawe, Buton, Konawe Utara, Konawe Selatan, Muna, and Baubau City, Abdul Razak, the head of the Southeast Sulawesi provincial health office`s disease control unit, said last December 2009.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne infection which in recent decades has become a major international public health concern. Dengue is found in tropical and sub-tropical regions around the world, predominantly in urban and semi-urban areas.
The Health Ministry has reported that in the current rainy season, the dengue fever cases have increased in the provinces of Riau, Jakarta, West Java, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, West Sulawesi, and North Maluku. Dengue cases have also been reported in Bangka Belitung, East Kalimantan, Gorontalo, and Palu.
Seven residents of Bangka Belitung (Babel) died of dengue fever late last year. Fogging had been conducted in 20 houses to prevent the further spread of the disease, Helmi Soefie, head of the Babel health service`s disease control section, said last December 2009.
In Bangkalan, East Java, the number of patients suffering from dengue fever in the current rainy season at Syarifah Ambami Rato Ebu (RSA) hospital was also on the rise, the hospital`s director said last January 11, 2010.
"Since the beginning of this year the number of dengue fever patients treated at this hospital has increased to 22 persons," RSA hospital director Teguh Basukohadi said here on Monday.
Up to November 2009, Indonesia recorded 137,600 dengue cases with 1,170 deaths, while in 2008 there were 126,600 cases with 1,084 fatalities.
"We should be on alert of dengue fever as the country has entered the rainy season,"
Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said when visiting Matahari community health post (posyandu) in Cilincing, North Jakarta, last January 8, 2010.
As for bird flu or Avian Influenza (AI - H5N1) virus, Indonesia reported fewer deaths from bird flu in 2009, but health specialists warn that the risk to humans remains high.
Over the past two months, pultry deaths due to bird flu virus have been reported among other things in South Sumatra, Lampung (Southern Sumatra), Bangka Belitung,
Central Kalimantan, Riau, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and Central Java.
Late December 2009, South Sumatra`s Metro city animal husbandry culled at least 39 chickens infected with the bird flu virus. Some 320 chickens were dead at South Metro sub district and 323 others in West Metro.
Last January 19, Pamekasan regency (Est Java Province) veterinary office culled 270 bird flu-infected chickens to prevent the spread of this dangerous virus.
Meanwhile, diarrhea killed four persons in Caringin sub district, Sukabumi District, West Java, since September 2009. The health service has recorded a total of 72 diarrhea cases at eight villages, at Caringin sub district so far.
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