REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALU -- A ten-month-old toddler from Sigi District in Central Sulawesi has died of dengue fever at the Undata General Hospital, according to the hospital's spokesperson, Dr Purwaningsih.
"One patient of dengue, a toddler aged ten months from Palopo sub-district, died on January 13, 2016, at the Undata hospital," Purwaningsih remarked here on Thursday.
She noted that the toddler died of dengue fever a day after being admitted to the hospital.
According to Purwaningsih, some 26 dengue patients were treated at the hospital from January until February, and four other patients are still in the hospital.
Despite the government having urged people in various provinces to be wary of dengue fever, a viral disease caused by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, the number of cases continues to soar in several Indonesian regions.
Dengue cases in Indonesia, a tropical country with a fast-growing population, increase from time to time, in spite of the struggle to win the battle against the disease during the rainy season this year.
Since January 2016, dengue cases were reported to have occurred in the provinces of Central Java, West Java, Bali, South Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, and Banten, among other places.
In Gunung Kidul district, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, the number of dengue fever cases continues to rise, and the figure has now reached 71.
Gunung Kidul Health Office Chief Agus Prihastoro remarked on Tuesday that the number of dengue cases since January 2016 has increased two-fold as compared to only 24 cases recorded in December 2015.
In the meantime, Central Java Health Office is focusing on reducing and preventing the number of cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever, which tends to increase during every rainy season.
"For prevention, we are trying to eradicate mosquito breeding grounds by burying, draining, and hoarding the scrap items that can retain water since fogging is now no longer able to eradicate mosquito larvae," Central Java Health Office Chief Yulianto Prabowo remarked in Semarang on Monday.
According to Prabowo, dengue fever usually peaks in January and February when the cases spread almost evenly in other areas.
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