Housewife first dengue death in Kelantan

NST: KOTA BARU: A 57-year-old housewife became the first person to die from dengue fever in Kelantan this year.
Wan Munah@Maimunah Wan Othman, a mother of four, died at the Raja Perempuan Zainal II Hospital on Sunday — a day after she was admitted.
Her husband Tuan Hassan Tuan Mat said he sent her to the hospital when her fever did not subside after several days.
"I had taken her to a clinic three times, but the fever persisted," said the retired policeman at his home in Taman Maktab, Pengkalan Chepa.
"On Saturday morning, when her condition worsened, I took her to the hospital."
Tuan Hassan said he did not know where Wan Munah was bitten by the Aedes mosquitoes, but suspected they might have come from a clogged drain nearby.
Officials from the state Health Department were at his house yesterday to take blood samples from him and his 26-year-old daughter.
They also fogged the area.
Kelantan Health Department director Dr Kamil Hassan said the people in Pengkalan Chepa, which has been blacklisted as a dengue-prone area, were lackadaisal about hygiene and health.
This had resulted in pools of residual flood water in drains, old tyres, vases and garbage being left to form breeding grounds for the Aedes mosquitoes.
He said the department recorded 176 cases of dengue fever this year.
They included 106 cases in the Kota Baru district, Tanah Merah, 23, Tumpat, 11, and Machang, six.
The number of dengue fever cases recorded at this time last year was lower at 128.
In George Town, it was announced that 200 medical officers would be deployed to help in the fight against the dengue menace in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
The Health Ministry’s parliamentary-secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon said the deployment would begin immediately in view of the large number of cases.
He said half of the 1,055 cases reported in the last 36 days came from the two areas.
"Of the total, 16 dengue-related deaths were reported."
Lee was speaking after launching the Penang School Bus Operators’ Association anti-dengue campaign at the Batu Lachang market. More than 100 members took part in the two-hour campaign.