Chikungunya outbreak continues in Lampung
The Jakarta Post | Tue, 02/16/2010 2:03 PM
At least 420 people in Sidomulyo, South Lampung regency, have been infected with the mosquito-borne chikungunya disease since early in the month, prompting local health authorities to declare the outbreak an emergency.
A top official at the local health agency, Kristi Endrawati, told Antara news agency in Kalianda on Tuesday that the disease had spread from one village to another within a relatively short time.
She said the aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries the chikungunya virus and spreads it to humans through its bite, was rapidly reproducing in cacao plantation areas in the regency.
“The cacao pod can hold water and become a mosquito nest which contributes to the spread of the aedes aegypti mosquito. It is impossible to fog all the plantations since they are too big and it is not effective. We only fog residential areas," she said.
Once infected with chikungunya, victims develop a high fever, reddish spots, joint pain, vomiting, flu symptoms and headaches.
Officials from the agency have campaigned to ask local people to cover all water catchments and clean all ponds periodically to reduce the number of mosquitoes in the area especially during the rainy season.
Earlier this year, over 12,000 people in Lampung were recorded to have contracted the disease, the highest recorded number in the last ten years.
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