DPA
Phnom Penh - Unseasonally heavy rains and humidity may be responsible for an increase of more than 22 per cent in Cambodian malaria cases recorded last year, local media quoted a senior government official as saying Sunday.
The English-language Cambodia Weekly quoted National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria director, Dr Duong Socheat, as saying that an unseasonably wet, humid monsoon season had increased the numbers of mosquitos which carry the disease while simultaneously hampering distribution of life-saving mosquito nets.
The paper reported Socheat as saying he believed that new cases of the disease were up by more than 22 per cent for 2006 compared to 2005, but figures for December were still being tabulated.
Malaria is the biggest killer of Cambodian patients who seek hospitalization in the country, accounting for 16 percent of all hospital mortalities, according to USAid figures.
The illness is a leading public health problem for the impoverished nation.
Socheat told the Cambodia Weekly that he believed the figures had also been inflated by an increase in the number of people seeking conventional treatment at public hospitals due to new government initiatives making treatment for many poorer patients free, and that the increase in malaria fatalities was not as great as the increase in confirmed cases seeking treatment.
The English-language Cambodia Weekly quoted National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria director, Dr Duong Socheat, as saying that an unseasonably wet, humid monsoon season had increased the numbers of mosquitos which carry the disease while simultaneously hampering distribution of life-saving mosquito nets.
The paper reported Socheat as saying he believed that new cases of the disease were up by more than 22 per cent for 2006 compared to 2005, but figures for December were still being tabulated.
Malaria is the biggest killer of Cambodian patients who seek hospitalization in the country, accounting for 16 percent of all hospital mortalities, according to USAid figures.
The illness is a leading public health problem for the impoverished nation.
Socheat told the Cambodia Weekly that he believed the figures had also been inflated by an increase in the number of people seeking conventional treatment at public hospitals due to new government initiatives making treatment for many poorer patients free, and that the increase in malaria fatalities was not as great as the increase in confirmed cases seeking treatment.
1 comment:
Yes, mosquitoes can be a problem,
and people should not take risk
sleeping without the net.
Also, this may be a sign of
declination of a certain species
of fishes, tadpole,..., or geigo
that consumed mosquitoes to
maintain the echo system. I hope
someone will look into this
possible causes as well. Who know?
Maybe, some of these creature might
be destroyed by isectecides,
polutions, or whatever.
Post a Comment