Thailand remains on alert against dengue fever

BANGKOK, January 19 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Public Health remains on alert against dengue fever in the country, following a projection that the number of dengue fever patients this year should be higher than last year. Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr. Sopon Mekthon on Tuesday quoted Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha as expressing his concerns over the fatal disease in the country. Dr. Sopon told journalists that his ministry’s Department of Disease Control has projected that there would be about 166,000 dengue fever patients in Thailand in 2016, higher than 142,925 patients slated last year, when 141 of them died. According to the senior official, there were 583 dengue fever patients nationwide from January 1–11, 2016 with no reports on any death and 31.39 per cent of the total patients aged between 15–24. Normally, the senior official noted, dengue fever does not spread during the winter season, but people in rural areas have been advised to destroy breeding grounds of stripped mosquitoes, the carrier of the disease, to help prevent any outbreak of the deadly disease in their respective areas, especially during the rainy season. (TNA)