Twenty-three people died on seasonal dengue fever outbreak on Tuesday across Indonesia, bringing the total death to 98 out of 5,912 cases since the disease resurfaced in January this year, Health Ministry said in Jakarta.

 

The victim was expected to rise as the disease will continue to spread on the favorable environment during the wet season that will end in February, the Head of Research and Disease Eradication of the ministry Erna Tresnaningsih said.

 

"Twenty-three die today, put the total to 98 out of 5,912 cases," she told Xinhua.

 

"The outbreak is predicted to peak until February, when the wet season ends," Tresenaningsih added.

 

Jakarta is the worst hit area with nearly 2,000 cases, but the most of the death tolls of 26 was in Central Java province, she said.

 

The disease has attacked provinces in the vast archipelago country including in Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java and East Kalimantan, said Tresnaningsih.

 

But the figure was still lower from the same period last year when over 18,981 people were infected and 192 others died on the disease, she said.

 

The health ministry has taken several measures to decrease the rate of fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease that spreads during the rainy season through the aedes aegepti mosquito, said Tresnaningsih.

 

Dengue fever is caused by a virus and transmitted through an infective female aedes mosquito which bites humans, usually just before sunrise and just before sunset.

 

Symptoms in infected individuals include: on and off fever lasting for two to seven days; loss of appetite; nausea and or vomiting; abdominal pain; body weakness; bleeding tendencies, from nose and gums; persistent red spots on face; extremities and trunks, or skin flushing.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2007)