CITY OF SAMARIND. Outbreaks of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) cannot be underestimated. The East Kalimantan Health Service (Dinkes) noted that from January to November 2022 thousands of people were affected by dengue and dozens of them died. East Kalimantan Health Service Chief (Dinkes) Jaya Mualimin said 35 children in East Kalimantan had died from dengue fever. Most of the cases occurred in Samarinda, i.e., out of 1,521 cases, 9 died.
Efforts to reduce exposure to dengue death continue. “Thank God, after making several efforts, now there are no more death cases every week. Because usually there are 1-2 death cases in East Kalimantan,” Jaya said on Sunday (12/11). Jaya asked parents not to underestimate the symptoms that usually occur in children when they have the flu. These symptoms are fever, cough and runny nose. The East Kalimantan Health Office, she said, continues to educate the public on this matter.
Because if the DHF is managed more than a week late, there is concern that they may develop dengue shock syndrome (DSS). “Let’s educate the public. We’re going down fast. Because if DHF is a week late (running it) you can get something called DSS (Dengue Shock Syndrome). Meant for a common cold cough, it turns out platelets are down and so on,” he explained. For all health care settings, both health centers and hospitals, she Jaya hopes to conduct initial screening of children showing symptoms of DHF.
This screening is important so that anticipatory steps can be taken before the child is diagnosed with DSS. “So at first the kids had a fever, they were screened to find out whether it was DHF or not. Now there is a rapid diagnosis test (RDT) using NS1. This way we can control and even prevent death caused by a late diagnosis,” he concluded. (kis/nha)
