M'SIA: 100 HAVE DIED OF DENGUE FEVER THIS YEAR

PUTRAJAYA, Dec 18 (Bernama) -- Dengue fever claimed two more victims last week, bringing the number of fatal cases in the country to 100, said the Ministry of Health in a statement Thursday.

Director, Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health, Dr Hasan Abdul
Rahman in the statement Thursday said the figure was slightly higher than the 96
deaths registered for the same period last year.

Of the total, 41 deaths were recorded in Selangor from the 19,368
cases
reported, amounting to 42 per cent of the total.

He added that 1,155 dengue cases were reported in Selangor and Terengganu
last week (Dec 7-13) and also resulted in two deaths but claimed that it was 118
cases less than the 1,273 recorded the previous week.

He said four states had recorded an increase in the number of cases,
compared with last week, when Labuan registered a 100 percent increase while
Perak (62 percent), Putrajaya (8 percent), Terengganu (8 percent) and Kelantan
(3 percent).

Dr Hasan said inspections carried out by the Ministry and local councils
showed that houses and shops accounted for 83 percent of the breeding grounds
for the Aedes mosquitoes.

He also said in the statement that 158 Chikungunya cases reported for the
same period (Dec 7-13), raised the total number of cases for the year to 3,864
but did not result in any deaths.

From the total, 79 percent were detected through Serology tests and 77
percent of the patients needed only outpatient treatment while 23 percent or 873
affected cases required treatment in hospitals, said Dr Hasan.

"The disease spreads through mosquitoe bites, especially Aedes mosquitoes,
so everyone must ensure that their houses, compounds and public areas are
clean," he said.