The Malaysia dengue fever outbreak continues to grow by hundreds of cases on a daily basis dwarfing 2014 numbers to date. According to the latest data from the Malaysian Health Ministry Mar. 29, the total number of cases for the first quarter of the year stands at 33,260 cases.
This is up almost 10,000 cases compared to the same period in 2014 when 23,295 cases were reported.
The number of dengue related fatalities has eclipsed the century mark Sunday when health officials reported 101 total deaths to date.
Selangor is by far the most affected state with it closing in on 20,000 cases, accounting for 60 percent of all cases in the southeast Asian country.
Last week, 75 percent of construction sites inspected were ordered closed for cleaning of Aedes mosquito breeding sites, according to a Sun Daily report Friday.
According to the World Health Organization, dengue is transmitted by the bite of a mosquito infected with one of the four dengue virus serotypes. It is a febrile illness that affects infants, young children and adults withsymptomsappearing 3-14 days after the infective bite. As many as 400 million people areinfectedyearly.
Dengue is not transmitted directly from person-to-person and symptoms range from mild fever, to incapacitating high fever, with severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, and rash. There is no vaccine or any specific medicine to treat dengue. People who have dengue fever should rest, drink plenty of fluids and reduce the fever using paracetamol or see a doctor.
Severe dengue (also known as dengue hemorrhagic fever) is characterized by fever, abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, bleeding and breathing difficulty and is a potentially lethal complication, affecting mainly children. Early clinical diagnosis and careful clinical management by trained physicians and nurses increase survival of patients.
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