From January to May 2016, Bangkok recorded a total of 3,630 cases of dengue fever – a 19.5 percent increase on the same period in 2015.
These figures were reported by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Communicable Disease Control Division.
Thailand wide, the figure for January to May was 18,044 cases.
According to Outbreak News Today, the 5 provinces most affected by dengue are Bangkok, Rayong, Mae Hong Son, Phuket and Trat.
Children aged between 10 and 14 years of age are the demographic most affected.
Thankfully, no deaths have been recorded from dengue fever in Bangkok this year, although 15 have been tallied across the wider Thailand area.
Dengue fever comes about by one of five types of the dengue virus, which is spread by the Aedes mosquito. Symptoms usually develop between 3 days and two weeks after the initial infection.
Symptoms include:
- Fever
- Vomiting
- Muscle and joint pain
- Rash
- Headache
- Pain behind the eyes
- Mild bleeding and easy bruising
You should seek medical assistance immediately if you think you may have dengue fever.
Dengue fever should clear up in less than 10 days although a very small minority of cases may develop into the more dangerous and life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever – which can cause eventual failure of the circulatory system – and dengue shock syndrome – dangerously low blood pressure.
Thailand does not yet have a vaccine for dengue fever and the best way to avoid its contraction is to lower your exposure to mosquitoes.
Featured image is by CDC Global and used under a Creative Commons licence
