JAKARTA, March 26 – At least 316 people have succumbed to dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) in Indonesia as of February this year, Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Herbuwono said.
Among the districts and cities hardest hit by DHF fatalities are Jepara, Kendal and Blora in Central Java Province, along with Bandung and Subang in West Java Province.
During the Commission IX meeting in Parliament, he said the increase in DHF cases was influenced by the El Nino phenomenon, where dengue-causing mosquitoes become more aggressive in higher temperatures.
“We predict further increases because of changes in rainfall and the increasingly unpredictable El Nino, based on reports from the meteorology agency, BMKG,” Dante said, as quoted by television station, tvOne.
Until last February, there were 38,463 recorded cases of DHF, with West Sumatra Province having the highest incidence of DHF in the country.
It is followed closely by South Sumatra, Lampung, Bengkulu, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Banten, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, Gorontalo, Southeast Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Jakarta and East Nusa Tenggara.
Besides the Dengvaxia and Qdenga vaccines, authorities are currently implementing a programme utilising Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes to control the transmission of dengue.
Indonesia recorded a cumulative total of 114,720 cases of dengue fever last year, resulting in 894 deaths.
