Via Borneo Post Online: Deadly dengue still a menace. Excerpt:
KUCHING: There are still no signs to indicate that dengue cases in the state are dwindling despite measures taken by the Health Department to destroy Aedes mosquitoes.
State Health Department deputy director (Public Health) Dr Jamilah Hashim said as of Feb 5, 2013, a total of 256 dengue cases were reported, compared to only 84 cases during the same period last year.
“This shows a very big increase of 172 cases, or 205 per cent,” she told a press conference after launching the state-level SC Johnson Anti-Aedes Inter-School Rangers Competition at SMK Matang Jaya here yesterday.
Dr Jamilah added that the state registered 1,519 dengue cases last year, which was the fifth highest nationwide.
“The dengue cases started to increase in August last year and it continued to climb until today. If we look at the data from our daily surveillance, the allowed cases by the Ministry of Health for a week are only 30 cases, but since August, we have breached that number.”
She admitted that the ministry had issued an instruction to the department to reduce the number of cases below 30 cases per week by Feb 13.
“We have about one week to do that. So far, within these three days, we received reports of 18 cases, which is an average six cases per day,” she said.
“Last week, we had 44 reported cases. It was reported in places such as Kuching, Bintulu, Sibu, Limbang, Kapit and Lawas. This shows that we are still not out from the worrying level yet."
Considering that the state had already registered two fatalities as a result of dengue this year, Dr Jamilah said the Health Department had to ensure the condition would not worsen.
