Dengue Killed Two in Balikpapan

Balikpapan (Antara Bali)- Dengue fever has attacked 350 people including two babies killed in the East Kalimantan city of Balikpapan so far this year.

Head of the city health service Dyah Muryani said the two babies 8 months and 18 months in age died on Thursday. 
Dyah said the number of people attacked by dengue so far this year rose from only 250  in the first four months of last year. In the whole of last year, there were 1,000  dengue cases  in the city, she said.  
 
She attributed the outbreak of the virus to frequent changes in weather from heavy rainy to extreme hot dry days and  to unhealthy environment.

Pools of water created by frequent rains provided places for   aedes mosquitoes, the carrier of the disease, to lay eggs and breed, she said.

A number of areas in the country have reported a surge in cases of dengue fever during the rainy season in the past three months. (*/DWA)