24 APRIL 1998. INDONESIA:
DISEASE (DENGUE) "CNN Interactive. . . The death toll from this year's
dengue fever outbreak in various parts of Indonesia has risen to at least
422 with more than 16,000 others infected, officials said. Officials at
the Health Ministry said Thursday the fatalities recorded since January
came from 11 of Indonesia's 27 provinces. The central government has labeled
the dengue outbreak "extraordinary" and called for a nationwide mosquito
eradication [elimination] program. The number of death recorded is believed
to be only a fraction of the actual number of fatalities throughout the
country, officials said, citing the reason that only four provinces had
filed casualties to the ministry this month. Jakarta, capital of Indonesia,
is the hardest hit and the epidemic has triggered a blood transfusion crisis
with scores of patients' relatives reportedly forced to spend more than
a day waiting in the understaffed Jakarta chapter of the Indonesia Red
Cross (PMI). Local newspapers reported Friday that at least 5,400 people
in Jakarta with the disease had been hospitalized in the past four months
and 54 people had died. The death toll is expected to rise, as government-run
hospitals and blood donor agencies in Jakarta do not have a sufficient
supply of blood badly needed by the dengue patients, said the reports."--Clyde
Markon <docmarkon@worldnet.att.net> VIA ProMED-mail <promed@usa.healthnet.org>
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1997 El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO 97-98)