Thailand to minimize dengue fever patients

The Thai government has carried on its attempts to minimize the number of dengue fever patients nationwide. BANGKOK, August 13 (TNA) - Deputy Public Health Minister Dr. Surawit Khonsomboon told journalists that he has ordered health authorities to minimize the number of dengue fever patients throughout the country, as the mosquito-borne disease normally spreads in the rainy season. Dr. Surawit said that public health officials nationwide have been instructed to get rid of full-grown mosquitoes and to eradicate sources where mosquito larvae can grow. According to the deputy health minister, measures against the hemorrhagic fever implemented by his ministry include the closure of water containers and the release of fish which eat mosquito larvae. Official statistics showed that there had been 29,490 dengue fever patients throughout Thailand from January 1 to August 7, 2012 and over 99 per cent of them had safely recovered but only 28 of them, or just 0.09 per cent, had died. The Ministry of Public Health reported that outbreaks of dengue fever in Thailand this year have dropped by 22 per cent year-on-year, but most of the hemorrhagic patients have been recorded in the central region, followed by those in the Northeast, in the South and in the North respectively.(TNA)