Dengue fever cases triple in Phuket

The number of people who have contracted dengue fever in Phuket since the New Year has more than tripled compared with the same period last year in a situation that the Phuket health chief has called “serious”.

“The number of people in Phuket contracting dengue is rising, and it’s serious,” Dr Bancha Khakong, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), told The Phuket News yesterday (Feb 15).

A total of 70 people in Phuket have been reported as contracting dengue from January 1 to February 9 this year, explained Paphada Rujiwongsakon of the Department of Disease Control Phuket Office.

“That’s a jump from 22 patients in same period in 2015,” she said.

According to the cases reported, the highest risk group were people from 25 to 34 years of age, Ms Paphada added

“Almost all of them are Thai; only 5 per cent are foreigners,” she noted.

Last year, 833 people in Phuket were reported to have contracted dengue.

“There were no fatalities from the disease in Phuket,” Dr Bancha confirmed.

Dr Bancha attributed the rise in dengue cases to the simple combination of rain and hot weather.

“This leaves a lot of standing water around homes, which allows mosquitoes to breed more,” he said.

Phuket News

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