ASIA/INDONESIA - Outbreak of Dengue: 14 dead and 60 admitted to hospital in Sumatra

Wednesday, 24 November 2004

Rome (Fides Service)- Fourteen people have died and about sixty have been admitted to hospital in Medan, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, in a violent outbreak of Dengue or break bone fever.
The hospitalised patients are in precarious conditions and the death toll could rise in the next few days.
The first cases of Dengue were registered in April in Medan, 1,400 km north east of Jakarta. The disease then spread to all three districts of Medan despite prevention campaigns by the local government and medical authorities.
Schools and homes have been treated with disinfectants and insecticides to eliminate the disease’s carrier the aedes aegipty mosquito.
There is concern that the imminent rain season may cause flooding and help spread the disease to other provinces.
According to a report from the Indonesian government this year in Indonesia there have been a total of 10,140 cases of Dengue, 195 lethal, most of them registered in Sumatra and Java the most populated islands.
(AP) (24/11/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:18; Parole:184


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