Asia dengue fever update: Malaysia reports more than 27,000 cases to date in 2015
Malaysian health officials, in an updated report, say that the number of dengue fever cases in the country has risen to 27,382 since the beginning of the year after the addition of 222 cases reported on Sunday.
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Of the 222 cases reported Sunday, 149 (67 percent) were from Selangor. The state has reported more than 16,000 cases this year alone.
The dengue related death toll in Malaysia remains at 62, as of the end of February.
In Vietnam, health authorities have reported a surge in dengue fever in southern Vietnam so far in 2015 where an increase of 27 percent in cases have been seen as compared the the same period in 2014. Statistics from the Ministry of Health showed that the country has recorded more than 5,200 infections so far this year, including 3,640 infections in February, mostly in the south.
The number of dengue fever cases in Thailand is now 3,700 and 3 fatalities, according to a Thai Visa report.
Singapore has reported 1,852 cases and one death since Jan.1.
Hong Kong has yet to report an autochthonous dengue fever case in 2015 so far; however, the city has reported 17 imported cases from countries like the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The WHO says Dengue is transmitted by the bite of a mosquito infected with one of the four dengue virus serotypes. It is a febrile illness that affects infants, young children and adults with symptoms appearing 3-14 days after the infective bite.
Dengue is not transmitted directly from person-to-person and symptoms range from mild fever, to incapacitating high fever, with severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, and rash. There is no vaccine or any specific medicine to treat dengue. People who have dengue fever should rest, drink plenty of fluids and reduce the fever using paracetamol or see a doctor.
Severe dengue (also known as dengue hemorrhagic fever) is characterized by fever, abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, bleeding and breathing difficulty and is a potentially lethal complication, affecting mainly children. Early clinical diagnosis and careful clinical management by trained physicians and nurses increase survival of patients.