Dengue Has Claimed 74 Lives So Far This Year

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 4 (Bernama) -- Until Tuesday this year, 74 deaths due to dengue have been reported, with the latest victim being a petty trader from Penang who died Monday, according to the Health Ministry.
Its Director of Disease Control, Dr Ramlee Rahmat said the number of suspected dengue cases increased further last week by 271 cases to total 1,023 cases, compared to 752 the week before.
"The increase was expected as more people who were down with fever, aware of the danger of the disease, were flocking to hospitals to ascertain they were not infected by the illness," he told a weekly press conference to update the public on the latest outbreak of dengue fever in the country.
Dr Ramlee said a total of 28,592 suspected dengue cases had been reported so far this year, including 1,480 cases of dengue haemorrhagic fever, the form of the disease which can be fatal.
For the same period last year, only 22,429 cases were reported, which meant there was a 27.5 per cent increase this year, he said.
Dr Ramlee said as of last week, dengue cases were recorded to have increased in 11 states, with Penang showing the highest rise, an almost 100 per cent increase to 303 cases compared to 158 cases the previous week.
Cases in Kedah increased from 21 to 37 and Kuala Lumpur from 75 to 130 for the same period, he said.
However, he said the states of Kelantan and Terengganu had showed a decline in the number of cases while Labuan had become practically free of the disease.
Meanwhile, Dr Ramlee said dengue hotspots in the country last week remained the same, namely northwest and northeast Penang, Johor Baharu, Setapak in Kuala Lumpur and Subang Jaya in Selangor.
He said almost 47,700 premises were inspected nationwide last week compared to 53,000 the earlier week, and of the total 469 premises where found to be breeding grounds of the Aedes mosquito, the vector.
The ministry would also redouble efforts to wipe out the menace by having more gotong-royongs to clean up suspect breeding grounds, increase fogging and enforcement, he added.