Dengue cases on the rise in six states - Health DG

Six states have reported an increase in the number of dengue cases on the third week of January, namely Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Pahang, Penang and Kelantan, said the director-general Health Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said from Jan 15 to 21, a total of 2,053 cases were reported in the six states which was an increase of 177 cases (9.43 per cent) compared to 1,876 cases in the previous week (Jan 8-14).

Dr Noor Hisham said six deaths were reported in the third week, bringing the cumulative number of deaths nationwide to 13 for the first three weeks of the year compared with 23 deaths for the corresponding period last year.

"The cumulative number of dengue fever cases from Jan 1 to 21 is 5,592 cases, which is a 46.7 per cent drop (4,890 cases) compared to 10,482 cases for the corresponding period last year," he said in a statement here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said the current unpredictable weather conditions would provide ideal breeding grounds for Aedes mosquitoes if water containers are left unchecked.

"Deaths due to dengue had occurred in areas with dengue epidemic or high breeding rate of Aedes mosquitoes," he said.

On the Zika virus infection, he said, based on the World Health Organisation's (WHO) report on Jan 20, the infection which was also spread by the Aedes mosquito had been reported in 76 countries.

In Malaysia, eight Zika positive cases were reported from Sept 1 to Dec 31 last year, he said.

According to him, from Jan 1 to 21 this year, the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) and Institute Medical Research (IMR) had found negative results from 97 blood and urine samples of patients who had shown symptoms of Zika virus. -- BERNAMA