Dengue fever has killed at least 91 people in Indonesia this year, mainly on Java island, and a new deadly strain of the disease could be responsible, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
In Jakarta, health officers went to slums, residential areas and even mansions near the president's house on Tuesday, spraying billowing clouds mosquito repellant.
Dengue fever has long been a killer across the world's largest archipelago, but the ministry said the death toll so far this year was double the same period last year.
"There have been 4,500 cases of dengue fever across Indonesia (this year). The death toll as of February 17 is 91 people," said ministry spokeswoman Mariani Reksoprodjo.
She said data only came from seven of Indonesia's 30 provinces, with most cases from the country's main island of Java where more than half the population lives. Crowded Central Java province has not disclosed its death toll, officials said.
Umar Fahmi, the top ministry official for communicable diseases, said the latest outbreak might originate from a new and stronger form of dengue.
"From 100 people infected, one to three of them die. Is this because the virulence of a new strain or other factors? I'm afraid this is because the new virus and the adjusting behaviour of mosquitoes," said Fahmi.
Officials said they were conducting tests to determine if a new strain was to blame.
Health minister Ahmad Sujudi told local media on Monday that the high number of deaths was largely due to patients getting late treatment.
There is no vaccine for dengue fever, which causes high fever and haemorrhaging.
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