“The number of people in Phuket contracting dengue is rising, and it’s serious,” Dr Bancha Khakong, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), told The Phuket News yesterday (Feb 15).
A total of 70 people in Phuket have been reported as contracting dengue from January 1 to February 9 this year, explained Paphada Rujiwongsakon of the Department of Disease Control Phuket Office.
“That’s a jump from 22 patients in same period in 2015,” she said.
According to the cases reported, the highest risk group were people from 25 to 34 years of age, Ms Paphada added
“Almost all of them are Thai; only 5 per cent are foreigners,” she noted.
Last year, 833 people in Phuket were reported to have contracted dengue.
“There were no fatalities from the disease in Phuket,” Dr Bancha confirmed.
Dr Bancha attributed the rise in dengue cases to the simple combination of rain and hot weather.
“This leaves a lot of standing water around homes, which allows mosquitoes to breed more,” he said.
Eliminating standing water anywhere near residential communities was a key weapon in the PPHO’s fight against dengue, Dr Bancha dded.
“This is critical as it denies mosquitoes places to lay their eggs,” he said.
Ms Paphada added, “The Phuket Public Health Office will send teams out to warn people in risk areas and repeat the message for them to be aware of where mosquitoes breed so they can better protect themselves.”
Phuket has been identified as one of Thailand’s “danger zones” for dengue so far this year.
Ministry of Public Health Permanent Secretary Dr Sopon Mekthon late last month disclosed that the number of dengue fever cases from January 1-11 had reached 583 patients nationwide.
Most patients were aged between 15 and 24, showing that students and youngsters are the most susceptible to the disease.
Dr Sopon said the number of patients this year could reach 166,000, surpassing that of last year.
Provinces with the highest incidence of dengue fever were named as Nakhon Pathom, Phuket, Phichit, Sisaket and Songkhla.
Provincial public health offices have been instructed to cooperate with local organizations in the disease control operation, Dr Sopon said. (See story here.)