Published: Monday November 9, 2009 MYT 2:25:00 PM
Govt issues dengue alert
By SIM LEOI LEOI
PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry has sounded an alert over the recent rise of dengue cases in the country due the onset of rains brought on by the northeast monsoon.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said there was an increase of 100 dengue cases for the week ending Oct 31, compared with the previous week.
“There were 673 cases reported to the ministry with one death recorded in that week. Previously, there were 563 cases with one death reported.
“The rise in cases could be due to the rainy season currently faced by the country. Nine states showed an increase of between 13% and 150% in the number of cases, with Kelantan having recorded the biggest jump.
“The rest are Sarawak, Pahang, Perlis, Negri Sembilan, Sabah, Terengganu, Kuala Lumpur and Federal Territory, and Kedah,” he said in a statement here.
The latest death was a 42-year-old general worker from Serian, Sarawak, who fell ill on Oct 15 but only sought treatment at a private hospital in Kuching four days later.
The man was referred to a public hospital in Kuching but died on Oct 22 following complications from haemorrhagic dengue fever, said Dr Ismail, adding that no preventive measures had been carried out at the locality where he had contracted the disease.
Dr Ismail said five more hot spots had been detected, bringing the number of localities nationwide currently being monitored by the ministry to 16.
“It’s disappointing that half of these hotspots still have a high breeding rate of Aedes larvae and mosquitoes. This makes it difficult for us to prevent further infection,” he said.
Dr Ismail said only 32% of prevention activities such as gotong-royong (communal efforts) were carried out for that week.
“There were nine hotspots within Selangor which have yet to carry gotong-royong since the outbreak was reported in their areas,” he said.
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