More than 30,000 dengue Cases Reported in Cambodia in 9 Months

PHNOM PENH – The National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control reported that there were at least 34,483 dengue fever cases the first nine months of this year, a 166 percent increase compared with 12,972 cases in the same period last year. The disease had killed 146 Cambodian children and still continues to kill between 3 and 5 children a week. There were more deaths this year because parents had sent their ill children to private clinics first, and when the treatment was ineffective and the disease became more severe, they would send them to public hospitals, but it was too late for them to be cured. Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. The disease causes an acute illness of sudden onset that usually follows symptoms such as headache, fever, exhaustion, severe muscle and joint pain, swollen glands, vomiting and rash. In Cambodia, the outbreak of dengue fever usually begins at the onset of the rainy season in May and lasts until October. ubAlert