BANGKOK, June 5 — Thailand’s Health Service Support Department (HSS) under the Ministry of Public Health is mobilising village health volunteers to help local residents destroy the breeding grounds of common house mosquitoes to prevent dengue fever.
Four patients have already died from the disease since the beginning of the year.
HSS director general Dr Boonruang Triruangworawat said a public health report showed that from January 1 to May 27, 6,897 Thais have been diagnosed with dengue fever, four of whom died from the disease.
The province with the most dengue patients was Bangkok, with 1,218 cases recorded, followed by Nakhon Sri Thammarat with 265 patients, Songkhla with 257 patients, Samut Prakan with 248 cases and Chon Buri with 207 cases.
Most dengue fever are found during the rainy season, between June and September, as rainfall causes an increased number of stagnant water locations, the common place for house mosquitoes to breed.
Additionally the Health Service Support Department has assigned village health workers to do inspections and provide residents with proper instructions of how to prevent infection from dengue fever infection, particularly in schools, hospitals and homes.
The health volunteers would also join with local residents to eradicate the breeding grounds of common house mosquitoes in their villages.
The department recommended that for further prevention against dengue fever, the public should sleep inside mosquito nets, install wire nets, and apply mosquito repellent on the bodies.
In the meantime, children should be told not to play in dark and damp areas, and classrooms and offices should have enough sunlight and sufficient room for air to flow through.
