Dengue on the Rise in Denpasar

Speaking on Wednesday, head of the municipal health department Luh Sri Armini said there had been a marked increase in occurrence of the mosquito-borne disease between January and April.

“The number of dengue fever cases reached 200 during the period,” she said.

Armini said that dengue cases usually spiked towards the end of the wet season as rainfall began to decrease, leaving standing water as ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. However, she said that so far in 2012 the city had seen fewer recorded dengue cases than last year in the same period.

“In 2011, there were reportedly 300 dengue fever cases during in the same period,” she said, adding that there had been no reported casualties from the disease, which causes a high fever, and, in extreme cases, haemorrhaging.