Malaysia hit hard by dengue virus

Tashny Sukumaran The Star 3 Nov 13;

PETALING JAYA: The country saw the highest number of dengue cases in a single week this year with 1,680 cases recorded from Oct 20 to 26, with Selangor bearing the brunt of the assault by the Aedes mosquito.

Selangor had the largest increase with 1,142 cases, up by 272 cases from the previous week.

From Jan 1 to Oct 26, a total of 28,707 cases has been recorded, which represents a 58% increase compared to the corresponding period last year, said the Health Ministry in a statement on Friday.

The Health Ministry is concerned as the weekly cases this year, at more than 900, is more than twice of last year’s weekly average of 400.

The analysis for Selangor (up to June) noted that it hosted 323 of the 408 dengue hotspots nationwide, with 26 high risk areas found in the Petaling district, 19 in Hulu Langat, eight in Gombak and one in Sepang.

The rest of the outbreak areas were located primarily in Johor (37) and Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya (16), with the rest spread out over the other remaining states.

Johor saw 167 cases of dengue last week, while Perak had 64.

Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya remained steady over the last two weeks with 60 cases.

The good news is that Malacca (71, compared to 92) and Kelantan (33 compared to 38) are some states that had fewer cases last week than the previous one.

The cumulative mortality from dengue so far is 60, up from 29 for the same period last year.

In the statement, Health Ministry deputy director for public health Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman urged Malaysians to cooperate with relevant agencies to destroy mosquito breeding areas.