Concerted community action urged to contain dengue in Cambodia

The Cambodian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) have issued a joint statement here calling for community action to contain the current spread of dengue fever, according to local media Saturday.

Cambodia's severe dengue break, which has killed 182 people, mostly children, in the first six months of this year, will further escalate unless "concerted community action" is taken to fight it, English-language newspaper the Cambodian Daily quoted the statement issued here late Friday as saying.

In order to combat the quickly spreading dengue virus, which will reach its annual peak at the end of July, individual efforts must be expanded nationwide, it said.

"Household jars containing stagnant water, discarded tires and small pots constitute potential breeding sites and a dengue risk that only households and the community itself can commit to eliminate," said the statement.

Such containers should be cleaned every 10 days to interrupt mosquito breeding, it added.

According to the ministry, the 182 death toll from the virus in the first six months of this year already surpassed that of the whole year of 2006, namely 158.

The reported cases of human contamination of the fever so far this year have reached some 15,000. There were 16,649 reported cases in the year of 2006.

Currently, WHO's regional office is leading the efforts of Cambodia to spray insecticide and train provincial teams to contain the epidemic.

Source: Xinhua.