Upward trend in dengue cases

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: The number of dengue cases has been rising in the past few months, but it remains lower than the same period last year in terms of those infected and fatalities.
A total of 9,889 people had dengue and 26 of them died between January and March 29 compared with 13,949 cases with 34 deaths in the same period last year.
The Health Ministry's disease control director Datuk Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman attributed the rise to weather conditions.
The latest casualties are a 24-year-old man and his sister, aged 27, in Beluran, Sabah and a 21-year-old woman in Subang Mewah, Selangor.
A total of 648 were hospitalised between March 23 and 29.
Dr Hasan said the number was higher than the 575 cases reported the previous week.
Eight states, Terengganu, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Penang, Sarawak, Perak, Malacca and Johor, reported a rise in cases.
They account for 75.8 per cent of the total cases reported last week.
Selangor topped the list with 262 cases followed by Kuala Lumpur (77), Johor (41), Perak (57), Terengganu (32), Negri Sembilan and Penang (30 each), Sarawak (29), Kedah (21), Sabah and Kelantan (19 each), Pahang (18), Malacca (10), Perlis (two), and Perlis (one)
Last week, 144 compound notices, a total of RM38,800, were slapped on houses and shops where aedes mosquitos were found breeding.
Dr Hasan advised people suffering from high fever, rash, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, and muscle and joint pain to see a doctor immediately as they could be having dengue fever.
Most dengue infections result in a relatively mild illness, but some can progress to dengue haemorrhagic fever which is fatal in five per cent of cases.