Malaysia now joins the Philippines and Thailand as the three southeast Asian countries who have reported more than 100,000 dengue fever cases in 2015. Health officials say that as of Nov. 6, Malaysia has reported a total of 102,217 cases nationwide and 282 deaths.

This total is a 16 percent increase compared to the same period last year (86,192 cases and 162 deaths).

Selangor province continues to report more than 50 percent of dengue cases nationwide and the country’s capital of Kuala Lumpur has seen more than 6,000 cases.

map of Malaysia
Malaysia/CIA

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S.Subramaniam said the health ministry is aiming at reducing the numbers of dengue cases into a more manageable level to ensure the control mechanism taken by the ministry to be more effective.

“I do not dare to target for free dengue nation but we are hoping to reduce the numbers of cases as much as possible so that our officers can be more focus in combating the disease.”

In addition to Malaysia, from 1 January to 3 October 2015, there were 108,263 suspected cases of dengue, including 317 deaths, reported in Philippines. This is 31.9% higher compared with the same reporting period in 2014 (n=82,049).

The Thailand Bureau of Epidemiology (BOE) has reported through Nov. 2 a total to 102,761 cases from all 77 provinces, including 102 deaths.

Myanmar, Taiwan, and Vietnam are among countries that have seen significant spikes in the mosquito-borne disease, while New Delhi is in the grip of its worst dengue outbreak in almost 20 years.

Robert Herriman is a microbiologist and the Editor-in-Chief of Outbreak News Today and the Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch

Follow @bactiman63

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