2023-06-13 01:50:35
Although the rainy season promises to be less wet than average, Thai authorities expect a relatively busy year in 2023 in terms of cases of dengue fever, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes.
Thailand’s Department of Disease Control (DDC) said on Monday that the number of dengue infections since the beginning of this year totaled 19,503 cases, including 17 fatalities.
At the end of May, the Thai Ministry of Health warned that the number of dengue fever cases this year might reach its highest level in three years.
Indeed, the figures for the first six months of this year are comparable to those of 2019, when at the same time of the year just over 20,000 cases of dengue were recorded in Thailand, including 25 fatalities.
Over the whole of 2019, the Ministry of Health had then reported a total of 128,964 cases of dengue fever, including 133 deaths.
The 2019 toll is the fourth largest ever recorded by Thai health authorities.
The highest number of dengue fever cases recorded in one year in the kingdom dates back to 1987. The Ministry of Health then listed 174,285 infections – including more than 152,000 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever, the most severe form – which had caused 1,007 death.
In 2013, dengue fever affected 150,934 people, of whom 133 died, and just two years later, in 2015, the kingdom recorded 141,375 cases, including 141 fatalities.
According to official data, the worst affected areas so far this year are Nan, Trat, Chumphon, Chanthaburi and Tak provinces. Authorities have classified ten provinces as high-risk areas for dengue transmission. These are Tak, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan, Bangkok, Chanthaburi, Trat, Phuket, Songkhla, Narathiwat and Satun.
Dengue fever is a viral disease usually transmitted by the female of a black, white-streaked mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which bites during the day and has adapted well to urban life.
When caught early, dengue can be cured quickly and is only fatal in 1% of cases.
To protect once morest mosquito bites, it is recommended to avoid stagnant water favorable to the proliferation of larvae, and to protect yourself with repellents and mosquito nets.
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