117 Dead from Dengue Fever
Wednesday, 31 January, 2007 | 15:09 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The total number of people who have died from dengue fever up until yesterday was 117 throughout Indonesia.

The additional victims are in line with the increasing amount of people who are infected by the disease.

“Dengue fever is like an iceberg. A lot of patient cannot be detected,” said Lily Sulistyowati, a Health Department spokesperson, yesterday (30/1).

The total number of dead victims was from data collected by the Health Department and several provincial health services.

At first, their records showed that 94 people had died due to dengue fever since the beginning of this year.

Yesterday however, there were additional 23 people who died so the total of dead victims rose to 117.

Most were from West Java, followed by Jakarta which has eight victims.

Even so, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari has said that dengue fever cases in Indonesia are not too many.

“What is important is that this year’s death rate decreases,” she said at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Tangerang, yesterday.

In 2005, the total of dead due to this disease totaled 1,099.

Last year, the death rate was 160 and there is a possibility that the rate will jump again this year.

The number of dead is now increasing now occurs in line with the increased amount of patients in 16 out of 33 provinces in Indonesia.

On Monday, the disease had spread to 14 provinces with the total of dengue fever patients amounting to 5,764.

Only one day later, the number of patients had risen to 6.236 people, or an additional 472.

Pramono, Yudha, Ahmad Fikri, Sohirin and Sandy Indra