Dengue in Cambodia, worst outbreak in years

[Gert van der Hoek]

Cambodian officials fear high dengue fever toll this year

Cambodian government officials fear that dengue fever could strike hard this rainy season in both urban and rural areas of Cambodia, local media said on Tuesday.

Although this year's rainy season just began, 84 have died due to the mosquito-borne disease, more than half of last year's total number of 156, Ngan Chantha, deputy director of the National Malaria Center of the Health Ministry, was quoted by English newspaper the Cambodian Daily as saying.

It is raining more this years and water has started to gather around houses, which becomes the environment for the disease to spread, the paper quoted local doctors as saying.

The dengue fever, which is passed throughout a community in a cycle from mosquito to human and back again, spreads easily in Phnom Penh, Kandal province and Kompong Cham province, as the rise in urban population brings more people in contact with the virus, said the paper.

Over 6,000 people have died of the disease this year all over the world, according to statistics from the World Health Organization.

Source: Xinhua

http://english.people.com.cn/200706/05/eng20070605_381005.html

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Cambodian officials fear high dengue fever toll

Re: Cambodian officials fear high dengue fever toll

Dengue fever kills seven Cambodian children in one village

Posted : Wed, 13 Jun 2007 04:50:00GMT


Phnom Penh - Officials in a Cambodian province close to the capital said Wednesday that seven children had died of dengue fever in one village in recent weeks and they were bracing for more deaths as the rainy season set in.

Meng Sothy, deputy director of Kampong Speu district hospital, 40 kilometres south-west of the capital, said the seven, whose ages were not given, had all come from the remote Borset village and had died despite being transferred to children's hospitals in Phnom Penh.

"We have seven children dead so far, but these are just the ones who have been reported and we have no idea how many have contracted the disease," he said.

He said officials were mounting an education campaign to try to educate villagers on how to contain the mosquito-borne virus, which kills mostly the very young and the elderly and whose symptoms include high fever and intense muscle and joint pain. The virus often kills by destroying blood platelets, resulting in massive haemorrhaging.

Kampong Speu hospital director Huot Thorn said the disease was a sad fact of life for rural Cambodians, especially during the monsoon season when the mosquitoes bred prolifically.

On Wednesday, Dr Beat Richner, a Swiss national who runs four Kantha Bopha hospitals in Cambodia, which provide free health care to children, placed a full-page advertisement in the English-language Cambodia Daily newspaper, calling dengue fever "an epidemic."

Richner said his hospitals had treated 1,254 cases of severe dengue fever in children in the first week of June alone and appealed to the Cambodian government and international donors for aid to assist his hospitals to cope with the problem.

King Norodom Sihamoni attended a gala in honour of the Kantha Bopha hospitals during his recent state visit to Switzerland.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/72172.html

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Dengue fever to spread in Cambodia

15.06.2007 Source: AP

? URL: http://english.pravda.ru/world/93419-cambodia_fever-0


More than hundred children were killed by dengue fever this year in Cambodia and it is expected that the disease will spread when the rainy season peaks during the next few months, health officials said Friday.

About 7,400 cases have already been reported this year, said Mam Bunheng, Cambodia's Deputy Minister of Health.

He said dengue fever has already killed 102 children, but that the disease has claimed no adult lives this year.

The government launched a nationwide education campaign Friday as part of efforts to keep the mosquito-born disease in check, pleading with people to keep their homes and yards free of stagnant water where mosquitoes can breed.

Last year dengue killed 158 children and 16,650 cases were reported, said Ngan Chantha, director of the National Anti-Dengue Fever Program under the Ministry of Health.

He said the death toll could get much worse at the height of the rainy season, in July and August.

Dengue is a chronic problem in Cambodia, but due to early rains the number of cases is already high this year and could prove to be much worse than last year, said Chang Moh Seng, a dengue control officer at the World Health Organization in Cambodia.

"From the cases reported and the number of deaths, I think the situation is worse than last year," Chang said.

The WHO is working with the Ministry of Health to promote dengue education in schools and local communities.

http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/15-06-2007/93419-cambodia_fever-0

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Economic boom brings more dengue to Cambodia

18 Jun 2007 06:26:44 GMT

PHNOM PENH, June 18 (Reuters) - Dengue fever has killed at least 109 children in Cambodia so far this year, a three-fold rise from the same period of 2006, due to early monsoon rains and increasing urbanisation, health officials said on Monday.

"We are worried that more children will get sick as a result of mosquito-borne diseases in the coming rainy season months," said Ngan Chantha, director of the Southeast Asian nation's dengue program.

Dengue infections in Cambodia tend to peak in July, August and September, the height of the rainy season, when the mosquitoes that carry the disease breed most rapidly in stagnant pools and ponds.

Construction sites around Phnom Penh, which is enjoying an economic boom, are contributing to the spread because they tend to be strewn with breeding spots such as discarded tyres and broken pots, Ngan Chantha said.

Cambodia's experience with dengue mirrors that of other countries in the region, where scientists are worried that climate change is making the mosquitoes more active.

Dengue typically causes high fever, nausea and intense joint pain. There is no real treatment, apart from rest and rehydration. In severe cases it can prove fatal.

The Indonesian capital saw a surge in dengue infections earlier this year after much of the Jakarta area was flooded.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BKK100175.htm

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Dengue deaths sweeping Cambodia

highlight healthcare failures

Posted: 28 June 2007


KROUCH CHHMAR VILLAGE - Saing Ratha lies semi-conscious, her thin body shaking with fever as her mother tries desperately to cool her by placing blocks of ice under her arms.

Her 10-year-old bother Saing Sokun lies curled around a block of ice next to her in this spartan rural clinic.

Both have been struck down by dengue fever that has killed almost as many children in the first six months of this year as during the whole of 2006 in an outbreak that is expected to worsen with an early monsoon.

"In my village every house has been afflicted by dengue -- in some homes all the children are sick," says the children's mother, Chhiv Thy, as she wipes down the 13-year-old girl's body with wet towels.

For five days they have lain on crude wooden beds in a small alcove off one of the clinic's wings. Saline drips are tied to metal posts and the windowsill next to their cots is piled high with cooking pots and dirty plates.

Chhiv Thy says she has not worked since bringing her children to hospital. The medical care is free, and good, but the beds cost 30,000 riels (7.50 US dollars) each.

Since January some 7,655 Cambodian children under the age of 15 have been hospitalised with dengue, with 109 of them succumbing to the mosquito-borne illness, which punishes its victims with fever, vomiting and crippling muscle pain.

The most serious cases result in heavy bleeding as blood vessels disintegrate, and can quickly kill children.

Compared to last year's total of 6,149 cases and 158 deaths, "this year is much worse," said Ngan Chantha, director in the health ministry's dengue programme.

Doctor Un Sam Ath gestures up and down the bare hallways of the Krouch Chhmar clinic, saying that only a few days before they had been crowded end-to-end with beds and sick children.

Since May Krouch Chhmar referral hospital has received 20 dengue cases.

"Much more than 2006, when we had five cases total for the whole year," he says.

Two children have died. Un Sam Ath says he wanted to send them to the provincial hospital in Kompong Cham city, about three hours down a dirt road pitted with deep muddy holes.

"But their families were too poor to afford the trip. We have no ambulance and transport is a problem," he explains.

"We are so worried about the coming months -- parents are always waiting too long to bring their children to our hospital. By the time they arrive they have already fallen in a coma," Un Sam Ath says.

Those who can afford transportation to Kompong Cham will be okay, "but what about the poor?" he says.

The outbreak, which has stretched several hospitals in the capital Phnom Penh to capacity, highlights the many failures of Cambodia's health system, which like all of its public institutions is struggling after years of civil war and neglect.

"The total level of public financing for health is simply too low," the World Bank said in its 2007 equality and development report, which found that rural Cambodians still lacked significant access to healthcare.

The government spent only four dollars per person on health expenditures in 2006, the World Bank said, while Cambodian health officials admit that paediatric care is especially thin.

"We have not enough health care services for children -- it is still at a limited level," says Mam Bun Heng, a secretary of state with the health ministry.

A lack of basic health knowledge is also particularly deadly for uneducated rural Cambodians like many of those seeking help in Krouch Chhmar.

This combination has left Cambodia woefully unprepared for the current dengue outbreak.

"People's understanding of sanitation is still very low," Mam Bun Heng says. "We are educating them," but about three million dollars will be needed to fight yearly outbreaks of dengue.

Despite massive public education campaigns already warning people of dengue fever, Un Sam Ath said most people simply tune out the radio and television spots offering advice on how to combat the illnesses.

"People just want to watch the other programmes," he says.

"They need to understand more about this problem. Dengue fever outbreaks spread very quickly, and many people don't know how it spreads." - AFP/ra

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/health/view/284951/1/.html

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Thailand medics to help Cambodia contain dengue fever

BANGKOK, July 4 (TNA) ? Thailand will send health officials and medical equipment to help neighbouring Cambodia to contain dengue fever after the number of dengue fever cases there was recorded at nearly 10,000 in June.

The Cambodian government requested Thailand's assistance to contain dengue fever there after the spreading disease officially became a crisis when the death toll last month was reported at 132, or a five-fold increase over the previous month, according to Dr. Thawat Suntrajarn, director-general of the Public Health Ministry's Disease Control Department.

Thai Public Health Minister Dr. Mongkol Na Songkhla has been assigned by Prime Minister Gen. Surayud Chulanont to lead teams of specialists and carry medical equipment to Cambodia on Thursday.

Medical equipment will be sent to Cambodia by aircraft of the Royal Thai Airforce. The Thai medical teams will treat Cambodian patients and update Cambodian medical staff on new procedures on preventing and containing dengue fever outbreaks. (TNA)-E004

http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=30313

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Thailand to Assist Cambodia with Dengue Crisis

By Sai Silp

July 5, 2007

The Thai government has responded to a Cambodian request for assistance by sending experts and medical equipment to combat a growing dengue fever outbreak that has struck ten of the country?s provinces.

Thailand?s ministries of Foreign Affairs and Public Health were tasked by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont to provide medical experts, equipment and a budget of about 20 million baht (US $625,000) to help Cambodia contain the recent outbreak, according to Dr Mongkol Na Songkhla, the minister of public health.

The Cambodian request was made by a letter sent to Thailand?s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which urged cooperation between the two nations and said Cambodia faced critical shortages of medical supplies and staff, Dr Thawat Sunthrajarn, the director-general of Thailand?s Disease Control Department, revealed o*n Wednesday.

Thawat added that the spread of dengue in Cambodia had reached a critical stage. ?In April, the number of patients was 2,000. By June, the number was 10,000?a five-fold increase in the space of two months,? said Thawat.

?Some 132 have died in the first six months of 2007, mostly children. The situation has been made worse by the rainy season, with more mosquitoes transmitting the disease.?

Some experts have said that other Southeast Asian nations could face similar outbreaks of dengue, amid signs that climate change could make this year the worst o*n record for a disease that gets much less attention than some other significant health risks.

Thailand has had more than 11,000 cases of dengue fever, with 14 deaths, since the beginning of 2007?up 18 percent from the same period last year. In Malaysia, 20,658 cases have been reported from January to May, a surge of 55 percent over corresponding figures from last year. The number of deaths in Malaysia since January (48) is roughly 71 percent higher than 2006.

Singapore has also seen a significant rise (a nearly 3-fold increase) in cases of dengue fever, which some officials blame o*n substantially warmer weather in the city-state.

"The threat of dengue is increasing because of global warming, mosquitoes are becoming more active year by year and their geographical reach is expanding both north and south of the Equator," said Lo Wing-lok, a Hong Kong-based expert in infectious diseases, in a report by Reuters in June.

Thailand?s efforts to combat dengue in Cambodia also serve its own interests. The two countries share a busy border where the disease could easily take hold and spread.

Thai officials have also stepped up surveillance along the border with Burma, where cases of dengue and other insect-transmitted illnesses have been o*n the rise.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=7788

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Re: Cambodia: dengue outbreak

Dengue means death for many of Cambodia's children

By Ek Madra


Dawn has not yet broken but already more than 1,000 sick children queue outside a hospital in Phnom Penh in a desperate wait to get treatment for dengue, a mosquito-borne disease taking a heavy toll on Cambodia's young.

Dengue -- which causes fever, headaches and agonizing muscle and joint pains -- has killed 389 people in Cambodia this year, nearly all of them children, in what is believed to be one of the worst outbreaks in years.

"Please help my grandson. He has had a fever for three days now," pleads 50-year-old Loung Neang, tears rolling down her cheeks as she cradles the listless body of an 18-month-old child outside the hospital before dawn.

She traveled 80 km (50 miles) the previous day from the eastern province of Kampong Cham, where medical facilities are nearly non-existent. But she arrived at the overcrowded hospital too late to have the child admitted and must wait another 24 hours for a bed to open up when patients are discharged.

Whether her grandson will live that long is another question.

Outside the hospital, waiting children lie on reed mats on the ground, their arms hooked up to saline drips hanging from the trees.

Dengue has infected more than 38,000 people in Cambodia so far this year, government figures show.

"Every day, every ten minutes, a child is arriving in shock, without a pulse and with no blood pressure," said Beat Richner, a Swiss doctor and founder of four donor-funded hospitals in the war-scarred Southeast Asian nation.

In all, his clinics can treat 900 infants, but it is not enough.

"More will die as the dengue continues to spread," he said.

SCARCE FUNDS

There is no vaccine for dengue but even if a treatment existed, the Health Ministry, which has an annual budget of $3 for each of Cambodia's 13 million people, would struggle to afford it.

Instead, the Health Ministry focuses its efforts on prevention, telling people in towns and villages to use mosquito nets, keep an eye on their children, burn rubbish and not allow pools of stagnant water, where the insects breed, to collect.

"We can change lots of things, but changing people's behavior is hardest of all," said Ngan Chantha, head of the ministry's anti-dengue program. "We tell them what to do, but as soon as we go away, they revert to their old habits."

Many people disagree, saying it is impossible to keep an eye on children when so many mothers and fathers have to work to provide for their families in what remains one of the poorest countries in Asia.

"I am poor and can't afford a private clinic. Where should I go now?" 43-year-old Pov Sokhom shouted at the policemen keeping order at the hospital gates as she covered her 7-month-old granddaughter with a wet cloth to keep her cool.

The child's mother is working in one of the many garment factories around Phnom Penh, leaving parental duties to grandparents.

"WORST EVER YEAR"

Even though dengue has always been a rainy season threat in the tropical Southeast Asian nation, Richner said this year appeared to be the worst yet despite government and World Health Organization (WHO) campaigns.

He blamed the domestic and international authorities, which are responding to higher-than-normal levels of dengue across the region, for being slow to act even when it became clear in May that 2007 was going to be a bad year.

"That is very sad. It's a huge suffering for the children," he said.

The WHO, United Nations Development Program, Asian Development Bank and International Red Cross have all chipped in to help provide pesticides to kill mosquito larvae.

Richner's Kantha Bopha hospitals, which offer advanced medical facilities to Cambodians for free, need $7 million a year to keep themselves afloat, but the size of the dengue outbreak is already causing them to eat into next year's budget.

Furthermore, raising cash is becoming harder because of Western preoccupation with diseases like bird flu, he said.

"Bird flu is a threat to the Western world, so they pour money and commitment into that," he said. "But dengue? There's no threat to the United States or Europe so nobody's interested."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071017/lf_nm/dengue_cambodia_dc_2

Pictures: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/pictures/AAL104.htm

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Dengue in Cambodia, worst outbreak in years

Dengue Fever Killed 407 in Cambodia

jan 4 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) ? Dengue fever killed 407 people in Cambodia last year, the highest number of fatalities in nearly a decade, a health official said Friday. Most of those who died from the disease were children, said Ngan Chantha, director of the National Anti-Dengue Fever Program.

Dengue is a chronic problem in Cambodia but health officials say the spike in cases last year was due partly to the early arrival of the rainy season, which typically runs from May through November.

More than 40,000 dengue patients were admitted to Cambodian hospitals last year, compared to 16,650 in 2006, when 158 people died.

The death toll from 2007 was the largest since 1998, when 474 people died from dengue fever.

In 2007, Southeast Asia experienced the worst outbreak of dengue fever in years, with large outbreaks also reported in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Dengue infects up to 50 million people worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization.

Most of dengue's victims are children. There is no vaccine or cure for the mosquito-borne virus, which causes rashes, blistering headaches, nausea and excruciating joint aches. The most serious form of the disease can cause internal bleeding, liver enlargement and circulatory shut down.

In Cambodia, the government conducted intense public awareness campaign with the help of foreign aid donors that warned residents not to keep still water in containers around their houses where mosquitoes can breed.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxvkQImMSjb3o_I-XkERO_ihklWwD8TVAV3O1

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Dengue in Cambodia, worst outbreak in years

<table class="lan18" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="97%"><tbody><tr><td class="hei22" height="25" valign="bottom"> Dengue epidemic looms as Cambodian authorities scramble to prepare
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="97%"> <tbody><tr> <td width="48%">www.chinaview.cn

2008-04-10 10:14:58 </td> <td class="hui12" align="center" width="26%"> </td> <td class="hui12" align="center" width="12%">

Print</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="80%"> <tbody><tr> <td height="20">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> PHNOM PENH, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Expert has warned that a dengue fever epidemic would soon sweep through Cambodia at a time when infections of the disease are usually at their lowest, the Mekong Times newspaper said Thursday.

Generally, dengue fever is most prevalent from early January till May in Cambodia, but this year the worst period will be from the end of April till July, claimed Ngan Chantha, vice director of National Center For Dengue and Malaria Control.

Ngan Chantha said the change has resulted from many factors such as the impact of the dengue epidemic in late 2007 and environmental changes that have altered the existing virus and irregular rainfall.

Other subordinate factors such as unsanitary conditions and migration exacerbate the problem, he said.

However, a combined Health Ministry and National Center Against Dengue Fever campaign dubbed "Abate", an insecticide used to kill mosquito larvae, should go some way towards reducing the risk, Ngan Chantha said.

Officials are distributing Abate to people in high risk areas for them to add to their water storage to kill the anopheles mosquito larvae that spread dengue fever when they reach adulthood.


http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/10/content_7951864.htm