Wednesday, February 10, 2010

May 30, 2009 17:16 PM

Sri Lanka Faces Dengue Epidemic

COLOMBO, May 30 (Bernama) -- Sri Lanka is facing a dengue epidemic as both the numbers of dengue cases and deaths for the first five months have surpassed those of the whole year of 2008, China's Xinhua news agency quoted the island's official newspaper as saying Saturday.

The Daily News said the number of dengue cases that have been reported up May 29 this year is 6,664 while the number of deaths reported during the same period is 85.

Only 4,156 dengue cases and 85 deaths were reported for the whole year of 2008, the newspaper quoted a spokesman from Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry as saying.

"This is an alarming increase and can be named as an epidemic," the spokesman said.

The health authorities have advised the public to always seek medical treatment from state hospitals because the private sector does not have a proper system to monitor patients after treatment.

Although the Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry did its best to control the spreading of dengue epidemic, it increased rapidly due to environmental problems and other reasons that went beyond the control of the ministry, the spokesman said.

Healthcare Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva held a special discussion with all relevant line ministries and institutions on Friday to launch an immediate joint program to eradicate dengue by destroying mosquito breeding sites, the spokesman added.

The World Health Organization says some 2.5 billion people, two fifths of the world's population, are now at risk from dengue and estimates that there may be 50 million cases of dengue infection worldwide every year.

-- BERNAMA

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