Dengue Death Toll Highest in Nearly a Decade, Official Says

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
04 January 2008

An early monsoon that encouraged mosquitoes led to the highest dengue fever death rate in nearly a decade, health officials said Friday.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever, or "bonecrusher disease," killed 407 Cambodians and infected more than 40,000 people in 2007, officials said. Health officials said Friday hospitals were ill equipped to handle the outbreak.

In 2006, 16,650 people were infected and 158 died. The death toll for 2007 was the highest since 1998, when the disease killed 474 people, the Associated Press reported.

The disease is characterized by headache, fever, exhaustion and severe joint and muscle pain. Health officials sought to curb the spread of dengue by encouraging Cambodians to cover water containers and treat standing water where mosquitoes breed.

Severe outbreaks of the disease in 2007 were also reported in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Child mortality from dengue fever on the rise in Cambodia

Tue, 28 Aug 2007
DPA

Phnom Penh - The death toll from an epidemic of dengue fever in Cambodia reached 365 with the monsoon season still in full swing, sparking fears it could yet top 400, authorities said Tuesday. The vast majority of victims are children under 15 who have yet to develop immunity to the mosquito-borne virus which is endemic to the region.

The government's director for dengue-fever control, Duong Socheat, said although the crisis had eased in some provinces, 365 confirmed deaths had already been recorded and there had been 34,542 confirmed cases. Around 116 Cambodians died of dengue in 2006.

An urban construction boom combined with climatic changes which have caused heavy monsoon rains to be broken up by unusually warm spells have created ideal breeding conditions for the day-biting Aedes mosquito which spreads the disease, according to experts.

"In coming months we will continue to increasingly focus attention on prevention and education. We will be putting larvacide in the water and spraying to try to reduce mosquito populations," he said.

He said the most seriously affected areas continued to be the northern tourist town of Siem Reap, the capital Phnom Penh, Kandal province, which surrounds the capital, and the heavily populated agricultural province of Kampong Cham in the country's east.

Dr Beat Richner, who runs the Kantha Bopha children's hospitals which treat thousands of Cambodian children free of charge, said the infection rates may be even higher.

Richner, a Swiss national, has placed advertisments in local newspapers saying that poor initial treatment by under-qualified local doctors is driving up the death toll, as well as a reluctance by impoverished parents to seek immediate medical care.

The seasonal monsoon, which is the traditional peak time for dengue fever, is not scheduled to end until October.

Dengue symptoms include high fever, headache and chronic muscle and bone pain. In severe cases, patients may develop haemorrhagic Fever, bleeding spontaneously from the nose, gums, skin or intestinal tract as their white blood-cell counts plummet.

Dengue Shock Syndrome is another potentially deadly complication of the virus. Patients with dengue also have a reduced immunity, leaving them vulnerable to other illnesses.

Dengue toll in Cambodia rises above 300 this year

15 Aug 2007
REUTERS

PHNOM PENH: Dengue fever has killed at least 333 Cambodians this year, most of them children, and many more could die before the rainy season ends next month, senior health officials said on Wednesday. The disease, which killed 116 Cambodians in 2006, has spread across the impoverished nation and infected 31,136 people this year, most of them in the countryside where living conditions are poor and children are vulnerable, they said.

"Their parents do not have enough time to take care of them at home. They are poor, they are away from home to make a living," said Ngan Chantha, head of the country's anti-dengue programme.

More could die with the monsoon season, ideal breeding weather for the mosquitoes which carry the disease, not due to fade until the end of September, he said.

A publicity campaign against the disease, including admonitions to clean containers at home every 10 days to ensure mosquitoes cannot breed in them, has borne little fruit.

"The striking issue is villagers do not clean their containers frequently," said Duong Socheat, director of the National Malaria Centre.

The country's four-Swiss funded hospitals have appealed for $7 million to fight a disease that reached epidemic proportions in wealthy Singapore as well as striking hard in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The World Bank, the World Health Organization and the Red Cross have provided pesticide to kill mosquitoes and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) gave $300,000.

Cambodia, whose health care system was devastated in 30 years of civil war, spends about $3 per person on health a year, according to the World Bank.

Cambodia's Dengue Deaths Top 300

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
03 August 2007

Dengue fever has claimed 304 lives so far this year in Cambodia, almost double the number from all of 2006, as an outbreak across Southeast Asia continues.

As of July 29, there have been 27,265 cases of dengue in Cambodia and 304 deaths, said Ngan Chantha, the Ministry of Health's dengue program manager, quoted Friday in the Cambodia Daily.

The mosquito-borne disease, also known as "bone break fever," has swept through Southeast Asia this year, worrying health officials across the region.

The three worst-hit Cambodian provinces have been Kompong Cham, with 4,090 cases and 57 deaths, Kandal with 3,220 cases and 28 deaths, and Siem Reap with 3,619 cases and 29 deaths, Ngan Chantha said.

Takeo province was the next worse with 2,935 cases and 33 deaths, and Phnom Penh is fifth, with 2,555 cases and 15 deaths, he said.

"The situation is much better, but we still need more help. Dengue season is not yet finished," Ngan Chantha said, according to the Daily.

In 2006, 158 people died from the mosquito-borne virus, according to official statistics.

Cambodia reports over 300 dengue deaths

August 03, 2007

Dengue fever has so far this year claimed the lives of 304 people in Cambodia, almost double the number of people who died from the disease in 2006, according to the latest figures from the Health Ministry.

As of July 29, there have been 27,265 cases of dengue in Cambodia and 304 deaths, Ngan Chantha, the Ministry's dengue program manager, was quoted Friday by the Cambodia Daily newspaper as saying.

The three provinces hardest hit by the outbreak have been Kompong Cham with 4,090 cases and 57 deaths, Kandal with 3,220 cases and 28 deaths, and Siem Reap with 3,619 cases and 29 deaths, Ngan Chantha said.

Takeo province is the next worst off with 2,935 cases and 33 deaths, and Phnom Penh is fifth on the list with 2,555 cases and 15 deaths, he said.

"The situation is much better, but we still need more help. Dengue season is not yet finished," Ngan Chantha said.

In 2006, 158 people died from the mosquito-borne virus, according to official statistics.

Source: Xinhua