THE Public Health Ministry said today (Aug. 18) the number of dengue fever patients has risen to around 5,000-6,000 a week over the past four weeks and to cope with the situation emergency operation centres have been opened in 31 provinces and seven other districts, TV Channel 7 said.
Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, the ministry’s permanent secretary, also revealed that the cumulative total of dengue fever cases has risen to 65,552 while the cumulative death toll is 58, of which 40 were older children and adults.
Death mainly occurs because dengue fever patients often do not think they have caught this disease early on and take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen to reduce fever but this leads to easy bleeding with a risk developing dengue shock syndrome.
For this reason those who have fever and have taken NSAIDs for two days yet their condition has not improved should quickly see a doctor to get a clear diagnosis as to whether they have been struck by dengue fever or not.
Opas also said there were 318 new Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital during the past week (Aug. 6-12) or an average of 45 cases a day. Of this total 136 had pneumonia, 83 required intubation and there were seven deaths, or an average of one day.
While the Covid situation remains relatively stable, death still mainly occurs in the 607 group which includes patients over the age of 60 and those living with at least one of the seven chronic diseases.
A key risk factor is either not having been vaccinated at all or not having got a booster jab or having got a jab over three months ago.
All provinces have been told to encourage those in the risk group to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and influenza within this month to boost their immunity.
CAPTIONS:
Top: A mosquito about to bite. Photo: Erik F. Brandsborg (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Insert: Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong. Photo: Thai Rath
Front Page: An Asian tiger mosquito. Science Library Photo published by BBC
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