Indonesia Dengue Fever Death Toll Climbs to 534

More than 530 people have died this year in Indonesia’s dengue fever outbreak but government officials insisted Friday the disease has subsided in most areas and has not hurt the tourist

More than 530 people have died this year in Indonesia’s dengue fever outbreak but government officials insisted Friday the disease has subsided in most areas and has not hurt the tourist trade. The outbreak has alarmed health officials because the death toll is more than double the same period in 2003. “The number of deaths from January to March 25 is at 534,” said Mariani Reksoprodjo, a health ministry official, adding 44,027 cases had been recorded so far this year. “In some areas the number has fallen but we have to stay alert,” Reksoprodjo told Reuters. The disease strikes annually during Indonesia’s rainy season and is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. The World Health Organization has said the outbreak was part of a five-year cycle common in tropical countries. Health officials have previously said the disease would peak in April, toward the end of the rainy season. A Tourism ministry spokesman, Burhanudin, said the outbreak had not affected international tourist arrivals in Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago. (Source: Reuters Health, MArch 2004)