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Dengue raises ugly head again

by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi

The dengue epidemic has raised its ugly head again and has claimed at least four lives so far during this year, health officials warn yesterday.

The warning came amidst reports of one death and a large number of suspected cases from the Puttalam district last week. "We have got three unreported deaths from the same district so far," a senior epidemiologist told the Daily News yesterday.

According to reports, so far 67 suspected cases have been reported with the highest being reported from the Puttalam District while the Matara district ranking second.

The epidemiologist attributed the outbreak to the change in the weather pattern and the carelessness of the people to keep the environment around them clean.

However, he said steps have been taken to bring the situation under control in collaboration with the local government authorities.

During the last year, the highest number of dengue cases were reported from the Western Province specially from Colombo, Gampaha and Maharagama.

Health authorities launched a special program to counter the dengue epidemic in high risk areas such as Maharagama, Dehiwala and Moratuwa, where houses in those areas will be inspected every week.

Health officials request the public to keep their environment clean and destroy breeding places for mosquitoes such as used tyres in order to arrest the spreading of Dengue.

They stressed that active participation of the public is a prerequisite to control this disease and requests the people to keep their offices, schools and surroundings clean. 

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