The number of dengue fever cases has nearly tripled compared to last
year, while deaths have soared almost 160 per cent, Ministry of Health
officials reported yesterday.
According to Dr Ngan Chantha,
Director of the Dengue Control Program at the Ministry of Health, the number of
reported dengue cases this year through August 28 had risen to 30,944, including
124 deaths, all children.
He added that dengue tends to be
more fatal for children because “their capillaries are very fragile”, making
them less able to fight off the Aedes mosquite-borne disease that can cause
severe internal bleeding.
Children are also less likely
than adults to have been exposed to and developed immunity against any of the
four variations of the disease, according to Dr Steven Bjorge, World Health
Organisation team leader for malaria and other vector-borne diseases.
This year’s new statistics
reflect a dramatic increase in absolute numbers of deaths, but a decrease in
the proportion of cases that resulted in death from this time last year, when
the Health Ministry reported 10,975 cases and 48 deaths.
The new numbers are still below
those of the “epidemic year” of 2007, which saw 35,784 reported cases and 352
deaths at this point in the year, Chantha said.
Chantha added that this year’s
dengue bout is “still not finished”, but he predicted the rate of cases
reported would continue to decrease.
“Now it is getting better week by
week,” he said, noting that the rate of cases began to decline at the start of
July.
The five Kantha Bopha hospitals,
among the main sources of public emergency care in the country, saw 20,998 severe
dengue cases and 85 deaths by the end of August, with a death rate on par with
national figures.
Kuy Sok, director of the
Battambang provincial health department, said his province had reported 810
cases of dengue through August and four deaths – almost doubling the same
period last year.
“Four hundred and sixty cases are
still in the hospital for treatment,” he added.
WHO officials have noted that
cited records of dengue cases and deaths only include those reported at public
clinics.
Numbers of patients treated at
private clinics are not fully reflected in the statistics.
Justine Drennan
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