Thailand's 10 provinces under surveillance of dengue fever

BANGKOK, July 27 (TNA) - Thai Public Health Minister Dr. Pradit Sintavanarong says that he has ordered health officials in Bangkok and other nine provinces to keep a close watch on the widespread of dengue fever, as the number of the deadly disease victims has soared since early this year. Dr. Pradit told journalists on Saturday that the number of dengue fever patients nationwide has risen at the average of 6,000 weekly; so, he has instructed public health officials to carry on public campaigns to destroy striped mosquitoes, the carrier of the dengue fever, and their breeding sources because the disease is usually widespread from July-August every year, when the monsoon season begins in Thailand. Official statistics show that 81,763 people have suffered from dengue fever since January 2013, three times more than the number of dengue fever patients in the corresponding period of 2012, about 28 per cent of the total patients are aged 15–24 and the majority of them are students, while 78 victims have died from the disease. Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr. Narong Sahametapat advised that people immediately see doctors if their temperatures of fever do not lower in two days, and that patients suffering from stomachache, vomiting or having red spots on their bodies urgently consult doctors. (TNA)