By IANS,
Phnom Penh : At least 146 children have died of dengue fever in Cambodia this year, a government report said Wednesday.
The figure was up 147 percent compared to 59 deaths in the same period last year. In 2011, a total of 73 children died in the whole year, Xinhua reported citing a statement from the National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control.
As many as 34,483 dengue fever cases were reported in Cambodia in the first nine months of this year – a 166 percent increase compared to 12,972 cases in the same period last year.
“The disease continues to kill between three and five children a week,” Char Meng Chuor, director of the centre, was quoted as saying.
He said 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 sent them to public hospitals, but it was too late.
Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. The disease causes an acute illness that usually follows symptoms such as headache, fever, exhaustion, severe muscle and joint pain, swollen glands, vomiting and rashes.
The official said that to prevent the outbreak, the centre has distributed 270 tonnes of Abate, a chemical substance to kill larvae in water pots, among households this year.
Last year, the country reported a total of 15,980 dengue fever cases.