Bali provincial administration has called on local residents to be on the alert for possible outbreaks of animal- and hygiene-based communicable diseases during the current season-transition period. Wira Sunetra, head of the Bali Health Agency communicable disease department, told Bali Daily over the weekend that various communicable diseases caused by viruses contracted through animals, including mosquitoes and dogs, as well as poor sanitation, had become the island’s most serious public health issues. Sunetra elaborated that around 80 percent of communicable-disease cases suffered by local residents were caused by poor sanitation and the spread of animal-based diseases.
In the past, a lot of children suffered from diarrhea. But now many of them get pneumonia, he said. Pneumonia is regarded as the leading cause of death among babies and children in Bali. Pneumonia is mostly caused by infection, but there are a number of other causes. Infectious agents include bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, mostly able to grow in dirty and unhealthy houses and neighborhoods. Despite the advent of medical protocols for the use of antibiotics and vaccine therapies, pneumonia strikes the very old in the population and the very young, especially in developing countries like Indonesia.
Based on data from the provincial health agency, around 476 children were affected by pneumonia between January and May 2012, with 186 fatalities. The most common age group for pneumonia patients ranges from under one year old to four years old. People with infectious pneumonia often have a productive cough, accompanied by shaking chills, shortness of breath, sharp or stabbing chest pain during deep breaths, confusion and an increased respiratory rate. In the elderly, confusion may be the most prominent symptom. The typical symptoms in children under five are fever, cough and fast or difficult breathing.
Pneumonia will remain a challenging public health issue in Bali as the island is now facing huge sanitation problems, including lack of clean water access, Sunetra said. He went further, saying that poor sanitation had led to many health problems. “Pneumonia is usually found in people who have contracted Avian flu,” he said. In addition to pneumonia, diarrhea continues to strike children and babies. As many as 928 people were hospitalized with diarrhea until May 2012. Dengue fever has affected 411 people, with seven deaths. Tuberculosis and malaria are still threatening diseases among local people. “In the last five years, Bali has been experiencing environmental degradation due to various factors.
Poor environment and sanitation has caused communicable diseases to easily spread in housing complexes and crowded villages,” he said. I Putu Sumantra, head of the Bali Husbandry Office, said that his office and the health agency were currently conducting joint surveillance to monitor potential communicable diseases caused by animal viruses. In Jembrana regency, the husbandry office is now working hard to ease rabies, as well as an avian flu outbreak, in addition to a disease that is striking pigs and cows in local farms.
source : bali daily
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