Dengue in Burma / Myanmar

[Gert van der Hoek]

Children most affected by fresh Dengue outbreak in Rangoon

Nem Davies
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

June 25, 2007 - A fresh outbreak of Dengue in Burma's former capital Rangoon has raised new fears among residents with at least three to four people being admitted to hospital daily. There have been a number of deaths from the fever.

While the fever, which is a recurring problem in Burma come monsoon, has spread across the city, the hardest hit according to Dr. Daw Tin Aye Myint, head of Insein Township general hospital, are Insein, Ahlone, Kyi Myin Dine and Shwe Pyi Thar townships.

"I cannot tell you the exact number of patients. There are about three to four and sometimes about five to six patients being admitted daily. And there are a number of children as well," Dr. Myint told Mizzima.

While avoiding terming it as 'serious', she confirmed that there has been a few deaths caused by the fever.

"Its more like recurring and there is nothing to be alarmed about? The child patients become more serious and there are already a few children who have died because of the fever. But I cannot tell you the numbers," Dr. Myint added.

Medical experts said Dengue which is caused by mosquito bites, are common in Burma during the monsoon, which sets in by May and continues till August. Children and elders are among the most vulnerable group.

The emergency ward of the Rangoon general hospital has been filled by children suffering from Dengue. However, the hospital officials declined to say the number of patients that are there.

Burma's Ministry of Health in an effort to combat the outbreak has reportedly conducted a clean drive in Rangoon and surrounding townships and begun a Dengue fever awareness campaign.

Statistics reported by a local newspaper, suggest an average of over 10,000 children suffer from Dengue every year with 300 to 400 deaths.

http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2007/June/58-June-2007.html

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Dengue in Burma / Myanmar

Deadly fever hits high numbers of children in Bassein

June 21, 2007 (DVB)?There has been a sharp increase in the number of children dying from hemorrhagic dengue fever in Bassein, Irrawaddy division, according to sources close to the local hospital.

In the past five days more than 10 children have died from the disease in Bassein, with local residents complaining the government had failed to address the problem.

?Three children died on the 18th of this month and five more died in the afternoon on the next day. At least 10 have died in total. The local health authorities have done nothing to take precautions,? DVB?s source close to the hospital said.

Residents also said that while a number of people from the community had offered to donate blood to help save the children, the hospital had attempted to sell the freely donated blood to patients and make a profit.

?The hospital chief is charging 9500 kyat for what he calls donation money for a pack of blood. Some poor families haven?t been able to pay,? another source told DVB.

http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=188

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Dengue in Burma / Myanmar

Myanmar (Burma)

Date: 25 Jun 2007

Source: Mizzima News [edited]
<http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2007/June/58-June-2007.html>


A fresh outbreak of dengue in Burma's [Myanmar's]
former capital Rangoon has raised new fears among
residents with at least 3 to 4 people being
admitted to hospital daily. There have been a
number of deaths from the fever.

While the fever, which is a recurring problem in
Burma come monsoon, has spread across the city,
the hardest hit according to Dr. Daw Tin Aye
Myint, head of Insein Township general hospital,
are Insein, Ahlone, Kyi Myin Dine and Shwe Pyi
Thar townships.

"I cannot tell you the exact number of patients.
There are about 3 to 4 and sometimes about 5 to 6
patients being admitted daily. And there are a
number of children as well," Dr. Myint told
Mizzima.

While avoiding terming it as 'serious', she
confirmed that there have been a few deaths
caused by the fever.

"Its more like recurring and there is nothing to
be alarmed about� The child patients become more
serious and there are already a few children who
have died because of the fever. But I cannot tell
you the numbers," Dr. Myint added.

Medical experts said dengue, which is caused by
mosquito bites, is common in Burma during the
monsoon, which sets in by May and continues till
August. Children and elders are among the most
vulnerable group.

The emergency ward of the Rangoon general
hospital has been filled by children suffering
from dengue. However, the hospital officials
declined to say the number of patients that are
there. Burma's Ministry of Health in an effort to
combat the outbreak has reportedly conducted a
clean drive in Rangoon and surrounding townships
and begun a dengue fever awareness campaign.

Statistics reported by a local newspaper suggest
an average of over 10 000 children suffer from
dengue every year with 300 to 400 deaths.

[Byline: Nem Davies]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Brent Barrett

[A map of Myanmar can be accessed at:
<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/burma_pol_96.jpg>
- Mod.TY]

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Dengue in Burma / Myanmar

Deadly dengue fever hits Bago children

July 26, 2007 (DVB)?The number of children suffering from deadly hemorrhagic dengue fever in Bago division?s Min Hla township has escalated dramatically in the past few weeks, according to residents.

While it is unclear how many have been killed in the area by the disease, local doctors told DVB that more than 10 children suffering severe fevers were being admitted to hospital every day.

?My clinic receives about 10 children with hemorrhagic dengue fever every day,? a doctor from a private clinic in Min Hla said.

?But there are a lot of clinics like mine in town so it?s difficult to tell how many children have been suffering with the fever. Children from the villages suffer from the disease more than children in the cities because of the higher numbers of mosquitoes,? the doctor said.

Residents said that many children admitted to the Min Hla hospital were being transferred to better equipped facilities in Tharawaddy and Rangoon as their conditions were considered life-threatening.

In a recent statement, Burma?s Ministry of Health said that 30 of the estimated 3000 children who suffered from hemorrhagic dengue fever in the first half of this year died.

If correct, the estimates show that death rates from the disease are higher than in 2006.

http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=281

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Dengue in Burma / Myanmar

Myanmar battles dengue epidemic
12 Sep 2007 13:24:00 GMT

<!-- 12 Sep 2007 13:24:00 GMT
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<!-- AN5.0 article header end --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="/bin/js/article.js"></SCRIPT> Five-year-old May May Hlaing came down with a fever on Tuesday. She started vomiting on Wednesday. Her parents rushed her to the Yangon Children's Hospital on Thursday morning. She never saw one of the 17 paediatricians at the hospital who were overwhelmed with the numbers of children turning up. She died of dengue fever in her mother's arms before night.
Dengue is caused by a mosquito called Aedes egypti. In some countries there are control programmes. In army-ruled Myanmar, where more than half the government's budget is spent on the military, and less than 0.4 percent is spent on health care ($0.50 per person), there is no such programme. Not surprisingly dengue outbreaks hit the impoverished country hard and fast.
Throughout Myanmar more than 1000 people a week, most of them children, were diagnosed with dengue in July, according to government statistics. However this figure is only for public hospitals. In Yangon alone there are over 1000 private clinics.
One paediatrician who runs a private clinic in Yangon reported seeing more than 100 children a day in the first 10 days of August. "I started work every day at 6am and didn't finish until 11pm. It hasn't been this bad since the outbreak in 1996," he says. In 1996, tens of thousands of people were affected.
The cost of treating dengue is $1.50. The average Myanmar family makes $1.64 a day. But even if a family is able to pay for tests, the medicines may not be available. One paediatrician who didn't want to be identified said medicines were not stockpiled in advance for an epidemic.
And where are the humanitarian agencies? World Health Organisation (WHO) held its first coordination meeting on August 3 in Yangon. At around the same time, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF started distributing leaflets with information on how to prevent dengue, identify the symptoms and what to do at the first sign a child has the disease.
However, the problem is less likely to be one of awareness so much as a lack of planning and prevention at a larger scale. Governmental and humanitarian agencies with the mandate, the responsibility, and the capacity to prevent epidemics such as the current one simply did not do their job.
You might be surprised that U.N. and international aid agencies are allowed to work in Myanmar, a country which has been ruled by the military since the 1960s. The authorities keep close tabs on the agencies but they can undertake needs assessments and distribute relief in close coordination with the government.
Dengue is cyclical and surges in the number of mosquitoes carrying the disease are predictable so it shouldn't be impossible to plan for an outbreak.
Cases in April and May were nearly double what they were the year before, official statistics show. In June, WHO's regional office reported there was a risk of a major outbreak. See this thread:yinyang: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31331
But WHO's first coordination meeting to combat the epidemic was four months after the numbers of children showing up at public hospitals with the disease started to exceed average levels.
In August, UNICEF received a request from the government for $55,000 to buy pesticides, fumigation equipment, and continue education campaigns. However, UNICEF and WHO officials said that even if they had ordered the pesticides and equipment then, it would have been more than a month, possibly two, before it was available in the country. By then it would have been October and the rains would have stopped. Instead, the agencies have decided to focus their efforts on being better prepared for next year.
If nothing is done and the trend continues, 2007 will be the worst outbreak in a decade. For the hundreds of children, maybe thousands, who will have died it will have been too little, too late. :tiphat: http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/45374/2007/08/12-132447-1.htm