Dengue fever kills 45 Cambodian kids in 9 months, down 71%

Forty-five Cambodian children have died from dengue fever in the first nine months of the year, down 71 percent compared with the 157 deaths over the same period last year, a health official said Thursday. About 15,193 dengue fever cases were reported during the January-September period this year, down 59 percent from the 36, 958 cases over the same period last year, Dr. Char Meng Chuor, director of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, said in a news release. "Around 67 percent of the patients are children aged between 5 and 14," he said. He attributed the decline in infections and death toll to the ministry's efforts in educating people about the dangers of the disease and urging them to sleep under mosquito nets all the time. Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. The disease causes an acute illness of sudden onset that usually follows symptoms such as headache, fever, exhaustion, severe muscle and joint pain, swollen glands, vomiting and rash. The outbreak of dengue fever usually begins at the onset of the rainy season in May and lasts until October. The country reported 42,362 dengue fever cases last year, killing 189 kids.