Fifteen children have died from dengue fever in the first 19 weeks of this year, while the mosquito-borne disease infected 2,527 people during the same period, the National Dengue Control Program (NDCP) said Friday.
NDCP Director Ngan Chantha lamented the 15 deaths, but noted that the fatalities had reduced compared to the same period last year, when 17 children died and 3,651 were infected, and the situation was much improved from the epidemic year of 2007 when 57 children died throughout the country in the 19-week timeframe.
“Although we have seen the decreasing number of dengue infections, we still need to pay attention to dengue prevention for fear of a new outbreak,” Mr. Chantha told a crowd of some 1,200 high school students who were participating in a dengue awareness raising walk from Chaktomuk High-School to Wat Botum.
“[Dengue] fever has decreased 46 percent during the first 19 weeks of this year compared to same period in 2012,” he said.
