Child mortality from dengue fever on the rise in Cambodia

Phnom Penh - The death toll from an epidemic of dengue fever in Cambodia reached 365 with the monsoon season still in full swing, sparking fears it could yet top 400, authorities said Tuesday. The vast majority of victims are children under 15 who have yet to develop immunity to the mosquito-borne virus which is endemic to the region.

The government's director for dengue-fever control, Duong Socheat, said although the crisis had eased in some provinces, 365 confirmed deaths had already been recorded and there had been 34,542 confirmed cases. Around 116 Cambodians died of dengue in 2006.

An urban construction boom combined with climatic changes which have caused heavy monsoon rains to be broken up by unusually warm spells have created ideal breeding conditions for the day-biting Aedes mosquito which spreads the disease, according to experts.

"In coming months we will continue to increasingly focus attention on prevention and education. We will be putting larvacide in the water and spraying to try to reduce mosquito populations," he said.

He said the most seriously affected areas continued to be the northern tourist town of Siem Reap, the capital Phnom Penh, Kandal province, which surrounds the capital, and the heavily populated agricultural province of Kampong Cham in the country's east.

Dr Beat Richner, who runs the Kantha Bopha children's hospitals which treat thousands of Cambodian children free of charge, said the infection rates may be even higher.

Richner, a Swiss national, has placed advertisments in local newspapers saying that poor initial treatment by under-qualified local doctors is driving up the death toll, as well as a reluctance by impoverished parents to seek immediate medical care.

The seasonal monsoon, which is the traditional peak time for dengue fever, is not scheduled to end until October.

Dengue symptoms include high fever, headache and chronic muscle and bone pain. In severe cases, patients may develop haemorrhagic Fever, bleeding spontaneously from the nose, gums, skin or intestinal tract as their white blood-cell counts plummet.

Dengue Shock Syndrome is another potentially deadly complication of the virus. Patients with dengue also have a reduced immunity, leaving them vulnerable to other illnesses.