Dengue fever outbreak kills another child in central Burma

[Jeremy]

http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=7433
Dengue fever outbreak kills another child in central Burma


Jul 09, 2006 (DVB) - Children at Yezagyo Township, Magwe Division in central Burma have been ill due to an outbreak of dengue fever, and a 4-year old girl died as a result on 8 July, according to local residents.

The child was transferred to nearby Pakokku hospital as the local hospital was unable to cope and she died at the hospital. Around 20 children with dengue fever symptoms are also receiving medical treatments at Yezagyo hospital, a health staff on duty told DVB, but refused to confirm the figure on fatality.


A local resident said that not less than 2 children had died as the result of the outbreak. The authorities are reminding people not to let themselves bitten by mosquitoes and to clear rotten drainage system so that mosquitoes could not breed. Health authorities are also planning to inspect the region tomorrow.


The authorities should have carried out preventative measures before the outbreak started, said a doctor from Yezagyo, who doesn?t want to be named.


The report of the death follows another report of the death of child at nearby Yenanggyaung due to the outbreak at Yananggyaung.

[Sharpe]

Re: Dengue fever outbreak kills another child in central Burma

Considering that this is a very high fatality rate for dengue, especially that children are dying--which is somewhat unusual--usually deaths occur in cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever, which occurs when a person has been exposed to at least one of the four major strains of dengue, and that takes many years usually before one is exposed to two, I am concerned--because similar stories are coming out of northern and central Thailand too. Anyway, the last time we heard about anything from this town, it was about bird flu, as quoted below.

Avian flu outbreak suspected in Burma?s Yezagyo

Mar 23, 2006 (DVB) - Hundreds of chickens have been dying at Yezaguo, Magwe Division in central Burma, suspected to be of the deadly avian flu virus H5N1, but the local authorities have not taken any action about it, according to local residents.

?No statement has been issued by the authorities on the avian flu. But it is occurring but it can?t be confirmed for certain yet,? said a local resident. ?At a chicken farm in the town, around 500 chickens died. There are some places where the disease is occurring within this week.?

Other residents said that around 500 chickens died at the farm owned by a man called Tin Hlaing and there have been reports of chicken deaths at other farms in the town and in the surrounding rural areas, but is not clear whether they died from normal diseases or the deadly avian flu.

They added that the authorities have not imposed a ban on the sales and transportations of chickens and eggs either.

The H5N1 avian flu virus was found in dead chickens at Maindalay in Mandalay, in what was believed to be the country's first case of the deadly disease, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on 13 March.

http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=6721