Thailand on alert as dengue fever cases rise
Thai health ministry is on full alert to prevent the spread of dengue fever after the disease claimed four lives so far this year, and the number of dengue fever patients nationwide has risen to 6,000, the Thai News Agency reported Thursday.
The focus of the outbreak is in Trat province, 400 km southeast of Bangkok on the Cambodian border, and in the southernmost provinces along the Malaysian border.
Earlier than usual rains has meant that dengue is a greater concern this year than before, Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla said. The insurgency in the far South means that anti- mosquito measures are more difficult to apply.
More breeding grounds for dengue-carrying mosquitoes emerge during the rainy season, he explained, especially in the three southernmost provinces where heavier rainfall contributes to a higher population of mosquitoes than in the country's other regions.
Mongkol said that the outbreak could become a severe problem in the border provinces as health officials can't implement pro- active strategies to fight the disease due to the ongoing violence.
The number of dengue fever patients is normally higher from May to August due to the rainy season. So far there have been 6,070 dengue fever patients in the first four months of this year.
The nationwide ratio amounted to nearly 10 patients per 100,000 persons in the population, he said. However, almost 1,000 new dengue fever cases have been reported in the past two weeks.
The highest concentration of dengue fever patients was reported in Trat province with the ratio of 46:100,000, followed by the southern provinces of Pattani at 42: 100,000 and Yala at 33: 100, 000 respectively.
The public health minister said he ordered health officials to work with local authorities to prevent the further spread on any outbreak.
