Correction and Clarification

Dengue claims Engineering Faculty undergrad

University of Peradeniya Chief Medical Officer Dr. (Ms.) S.M. Wattegama has sent us a clarification with regard to our news story with the above caption which appeared in our issue of July 13, 2009. We publish below the clarification edited for brevity and relevance:

"Based on the findings of an entomological survey conducted with the help of the Anti-Malaria Campaign we took immediate steps to eliminate all identified breeding places within the campus including the Medical and Agriculture faculties...In addition, routine vector/larva control procedures are being carried out regularly by the health personnel of the University Health Services.

"According to the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering the student who had died of Dengue had been engaging in industrial training from May onwards, outside the campus at Akurana, considered as a highly infected area of Dengue fever. He had not been residing in the campus since May 25, 2009. Incidence of Dengue fever in the University is very much low compared with Central Province statistics."