Warning For South Sumatrans, Entering The Rainy Season Beware Of DHF

JAKARTA - The South Sumatra Provincial Health Office appealed to the public to be aware of the spread of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) during the rainy season.

Head of the P2P Section of the South Sumatra Provincial Health Office, Mulyono, in Palembang, Monday, said that during the rainy season there would be a lot of puddles of water around the house.

Then the puddles can become a breeding ground for Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes that cause dengue fever.

So as a form of vigilance against the disease, the community is expected to clean up standing water in their home environment.

"It is important to regularly drain the bathtub, remove objects that can be flooded in the home environment and try to keep the damp side of the house exposed to the sun so that there are no mosquito larvae that are the source of dengue fever," he said as quoted by Antara, Monday, September 20.

In addition to cleaning the environment, he continued, it is also important for the community to maintain a healthy lifestyle by exercising, consuming more mineral water and fruits that contain high vitamin C, such as guava.

"Consumption of guava fruit and drinking lots of mineral water also helps create a stronger body metabolism from the threat of dengue fever," he said.

According to him, previously, dengue was very prone to attack children, but now, for the past three years, adults have also been prone to contracting this infectious disease.

His party noted, as of September 2021, 71 people out of 100,000 residents of South Sumatra who were infected with DHF 70 percent were adults while the rest were children.

Even though, he continued, the number of people in South Sumatra who were infected with DHF had decreased drastically by 200 percent, the public must remain vigilant, said Mulyono.