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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.
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