Dengue deaths up by nearly 50pc

Star: BUKIT GANTANG: There have been 12,179 dengue cases this year leading to 33 deaths, a significant 48.7% increase compared with the number of deaths in the same period last year.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said there were only 8,212 cases with 14 deaths from Jan 1 to March 16 last year.
He also said dengue cases in Perak have also shown a rise with 1,068 cases reported compared with last year’s 946 cases from Jan 1 to March 16.
The state had the second highest number of reported cases, after Selangor, he said.
Liow said the rainy season and dirty housing areas were the main reasons for the rise in dengue cases.
“It’s also partly the apathetic attitude of the people in not taking care of the cleanliness of their homes,” he told reporters after a working visit to the Changkat Jering Health Clinic near here Thursday.
“Continuous efforts to educate the people and campaigns to eradicate dengue fever are on-going nationwide,” he said, adding that the Ministry has spent about RM10mil in campaigns to combat dengue and other diseases.
He stressed that the public should be more aware of the disease and seek immediate treatment at hospitals should any symptoms start to show.