PHNOM PENH, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia had reported 18,987 dengue fever cases in 2024, a sharp decline of 46 percent from 35,390 cases in the year before, said a Ministry of Health's report on Sunday.
"The disease killed 46 people last year, down 53.5 percent from 99 deaths in a year earlier," the report said.
Leang Rithea, National Dengue Control Program manager and deputy director of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology, and Malaria Control, attributed the success to efforts to distribute larvicides, mosquito repellents and other materials to households to prevent a large-scale outbreak.
"Parents should take their sick children to health centers or state hospitals within 48 hours if they suspect that their kids are infected with a dengue virus," he told Xinhua.
Rithea also urged households to fill in puddles around their houses, saying that the puddles are the sources of mosquitoes.
Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted through the bite of an Aedes mosquito which is a day-biting mosquito.
The disease causes an acute illness that usually follows symptoms such as headache, high fever of up to 40 degrees Celsius, exhaustion, severe muscle and joint pain, swollen glands, vomiting and rash.
In the Southeast Asian country, the peak of dengue epidemic period is in the rainy season from May to October. ■