Ministry takes up arms against dengue fever

The move came as another mosquito-borne disease, chikungunya, continued to ravage the South.

Central Thailand suffers most from dengue fever, with 3,927 cases, followed by 2,460 in the South, 1,072 in the North and 766 in the Northeast.

Although the figures are lower than over the same period of last year, when there were 11,856 cases with 13 deaths, Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi yesterday urged health officials and volunteers to work to provide weekly information on destroying suspected mosquito breeding grounds in schools, homes and communities.

He said the ministry would campaign to destroy breeding grounds by keeping water containers tightly closed, changing water in flower vases on a weekly basis, releasing larva-eating fish into lotus ponds and cleaning buildings.

In the South, where chikungunya has already infected more than 15,000 people, Chumphon is fighting a two-front battle with both chikungunya and dengue fever, said provincial governor Karun Supakitwilekkan.

After three people suffering from chikungunya were admitted to Lamae Hospital and 18 others were put under surveillance as suspects, Karun yesterday said he was worried by a dengue-fever outbreak in Pathiu district with 20 cases. He said the province lacked funding to tackle the diseases as it had no access to the natural-disaster budget.

Lamae district chief Ekkarat Lhien said his visit to the three chikungunya patients on Friday had yielded information that an immigrant worker from Songkhla had fallen ill from the disease first.

In Songkhla, rangers and local residents expressed gratitude for HM the Queen's kindness in funding the distribution of chikungunya medicine and the opening of a ranger camp to treat locals.

Colonel Kriangkrai Srirak, commander of the 42nd Ranger Unit in Songkhla, said 300-400 people daily from Songkhla and nearby provinces had come for treatment to the camp, which was gradually getting medical personnel and supplies. As of yesterday 8,911 had been treated at the camp this year.

In Pattani, provincial health official Dr John Jiranakhon reported that chikungunya had hit Pattani hard with 2,976 patients since January. He explained that Pattani's extensive farmlands retained water from heavy rains, making them ideal breeding grounds for a disease whose long absence had left people with no immunity.

In Krabi, five cases of chikungunya have been detected with 16 suspects pending lab confirmation. The public-health authority has ordered eight district hospitals to watch for the disease, particularly among people who had recently visited relatives in the three southernmost provinces, and health volunteers to campaign against both dengue fever and chikungunya to prevent further spreading to the rest of the province.