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JAKARTA - A dengue fever outbreak in Indonesia appears to have peaked, though people are still being sickened by the virus that has already killed more than 600 people, health officials said Tuesday. Since January, the mosquito-borne virus has sickened 53,744 people and killed 632 people -- most of them on the country's main island of Java. But in the last month, the numbers have started to return to what authorities normally see during the rainy season which ends later this month.
"We're seeing a significant decline,'' said Dr. Mariani Reksoprodjo, a spokeswoman in the Ministry of Health. "For the time being, the problem of dengue fever in most provinces is not severe. Maybe the decline is because people are becoming more aware of how to prevent the virus by cleaning up breeding places of mosquito.'' The highest death rate was recorded in West Java where 144 people died, followed by 110 in Central Java and 77 in the capital Jakarta, said Sumardi, another spokesman in the ministry.
Officials described this year's outbreak as the most widespread in years. In 2003, a total of 14,071 cases of dengue were reported in Indonesia. In February, authorities launched a mosquito-eradication campaign, including spraying insecticide in suspected breeding places. It also ordered hospitals across the country to treat dengue patients for free. Dengue, characterized by high fever, headaches, aching joints and skin rashes, is common in tropical areas and endemic to parts of Asia and the Caribbean. No vaccine currently exists, but it is curable if treated early. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 100 million people worldwide are infected with dengue each year, with a death rate of about 5 percent.
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