Quote:KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysians were warned Thursday to step up their guard against dengue fever as cases of the potentially fatal disease reached epidemic level.

Suspected dengue cases have risen from 700 a week last month to nearly 1,000 a week this month, the highest this year since January, said Hasan Abdul Rahman, director of the Health Ministry's disease control division.

Malaysia's Health Ministry considers more than 1,000 cases a week to be an epidemic.

This year, 48 people have died of dengue fever and more than 20,600 suspected cases have been reported, compared with 28 deaths and 13,300 cases in the same period last year, Hasan told The Associated Press.

Health officials have stepped up control measures, including fogging breeding grounds for mosquitos which carry the disease, he said.

Malaysians also have been urged to check their homes and business areas for stagnant water and to seek medical treatment immediately if they notice symptoms such as high fever, joint pain, nausea and rashes, he added.

The Aedes mosquito, which carries the dengue-causing virus, breeds easily in pools of stagnant water in household gardens, rainwater gutters and other areas where water collects. Dengue, which is endemic to the region, causes internal bleeding and leads to death in severe cases.

Neighboring Singapore has also seen a rise in dengue cases, with 259 infections last week, the highest weekly incidence this year.

The city-state's health ministry has attributed the rise to warmer weather and the spread of a different strain of the virus.

I wonder if there are any reported cases over here in Thailand.

Jaggernaut Wrote:I wonder if there are any reported cases over here in Thailand.

I ask my wife if she knew the average admissions in Chiang Mai University Hospital (Suan Dok) but she could only guess at around 500 a year. This is not her specialty and the patients were in a different part of the hospital.

This is some general info..

Info Sheet

WHO

Thanks, Lukamar for the additional info.

Jaggernaut Wrote:Thanks, Lukamar for the additional info.

Here is the latest....

Quote:CHIANG RAI MAE CHAN DISTRICT OUTBREAK

160 in hospital with dengue fever
SUBIN KHEUNKAEW

Chiang Rai _ An outbreak of dengue fever has hit a tambon in Mae Chan district where around 160 ethnic hilltribe villagers have been hospitalised with the illness. Doctors said blood tests had confirmed that the villagers from tambon Mae Rai were suffering from the mosquito-borne viral disease.

Seven critically ill patients have been transferred from the district hospital to the provincial hospital for treatment, while many new cases arrived with symptoms of the disease at the district hospital yesterday.

All 500 houses in the tambon were fogged with pesticide yesterday.

Somchai Banchapol, a member of the tambon administration organisation blamed the rapid spread of the disease on poor awareness by the villagers.

He said they were Akha people, who, he claimed, were mostly poor and illiterate.

''All families agreed to pay the TAO 30 baht each to buy pest killers.

''We sprayed the chemicals throughout the village at 3 o'clock this afternoon,'' said Mr Somchai.

He said villagers have agreed to cooperate in a campaign to destroy the breeding grounds of mosquitoes, such as pools of stagnant water.

''Though a bit late, the people are now fully aware of the danger and doing all they can to prevent the situation from worsening,'' he said.