Dengue death toll surpasses all in 2006 in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, July 10 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from dengue fever for the first half of this year has already surpassed the total number of 2006, for more household-level breeding occurred, local media said on Tuesday.

All 182 people died from the virus in this period, compared to the 158 death in the whole year of 2006, the Cambodian Daily quoted Ngan Chantha, dengue program manager of the Health Ministry, as saying.

Government figures show 14,986 reported cases of dengue fever so far this year and the virus has yet to reach its annual peak of infections at the end of July.

Last year, there were 16,649 reported cases in all, said Chantha.

Beat Richner, whose four Kantha Bopha hospitals reportedly care for 90 percent of Cambodia's dengue patients free of charge, said that some 90 percent of the fatalities happened as result of receiving wrong combination of drugs or too many drugs at other hospitals prior to being admitted to Kantha Bopha.

Varun Kumar, medical adviser and senior pediatrician at the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap province, told reporters that the warning signs for the current dengue outbreak were present late last year and health officials should have done more to prepare for it as they knew it was looming.

However, Ngan Chantha said that the government has already distributed 200 tons of abate over the specific areas to help curb the outbreak, but the virus just spread beyond those areas.

"It is not so easy to control because breeding is at the household level," he added.

Currently, the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional office is leading the efforts to spray insecticide and train provincial teams how to use the anti-mosquito spray in Phnom Penh and other hard-hit provinces.