Thailand on alert against dengue fever after Songkran

BANGKOK, April 6 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Public Health has cautioned that there may be more outbreaks of dengue fever after the upcoming Songkran Festival in mid-April and has urged people nationwide to clean their houses and to destroy breeding sources of common house mosquitoes, the carrier of the deadly disease. Deputy Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr. Sophon Mekthon , in his capacity as the chair of ministry's war room to prevent and deal with dengue fever outbreaks countrywide, told reporters on Saturday that there have been 2,000 more dengue fever patients nationwide over the past two weeks, on top of nearly 18,000 dengue fever cases during January-March 2013, 17,960 of them had fully recovered and 20 of them had died, three times higher than the corresponding period of last year. Dr. Sophon acknowledged experts have warned that the dengue fever situation in Thailand could worsen after the upcoming long Songkran holiday period, as Songkran revelers or those returning to their hometowns could be infected with the disease, either before or during the holiday, and later caused its spreading. According to the senior official, the Public Health Ministry has, thus, planned to promote the cleaning of houses every 5-7 days in every province to prevent more outbreaks of dengue fever and has ordered all provincial public health offices to start implementing such campaign. Besides, the ministry is also sending public health officials to inspect local public facilities, namely temples and hospitals, as well as trains and bus terminals, and to destroy breeding sources of common house mosquitoes, while also advising the public to use natural mosquito repellent lotion or cream or to use fresh lemongrass in order to keep the mosquitoes away.(TNA)