Dengue fever kills 170 Cambodian kids in 10 months, up 154%

Cambodia reported at least 39, 290 dengue fever cases in the first ten months of this year, a 163 percent rise from 14,918 cases a year earlier, a report of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control showed Tuesday. The report recorded that from January to October this year, the disease killed 170 Cambodian children, up 154 percent from 67 deaths during the same period last year. Dr. Char Meng Chuor, director of the center, said that there were more deaths this year because parents had sent their sick children to private clinics first, and when the treatment was ineffective and the disease became more severe, they turned to public hospitals, but it was too late for the children to be cured. He added that the patients aged between 5 and 14 years old. 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. Dr. Char said that to prevent the outbreak, the center had distributed about 320 tones of Abate (a chemical substance used to kill mosquito larvae in water pots) to households so far this year. Last year, the country reported 15,980 dengue fever cases, which left 73 children dead.