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VIENTIANE, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A dengue fever death has been reported in central Lao province of Borikhamxay, Lao state-run online newspaper Vientiane Times reported Thursday.
Acting Director of the provincial Health Department, Sonexay Pangnanouvong told reporters that health specialists are now preparing to spray insecticide for mosquitoes on an area of 200 meters around the house site where the person died, some 130 km east of Lao capital Vientiane by aerial distance.
"The current situation of dengue fever infections has not seen a major outbreak but one person has died from dengue and the area around his house is at risk of outbreak," Sonexay said.
Based on the National Center for Laboratory and Epidemiology report in the middle of June, seven people have died following a nationwide outbreak of dengue fever in the first six months of 2016, with Champassak province in the south having the most cases.
From January to June 10 this year more than 900 cases of dengue fever have been recorded around the country, from which seven people have reportedly died.
Last year there were a total of 1,950 dengue cases nationwide in Laos but no deaths were recorded. But this year six deaths have been recorded in Champassak province and one in Saravan province, over 450 km southeast of Vientiane.
Sonexay expected that this year there may be a larger outbreak of dengue fever in Borikhamxay.
In May this year, a team of provincial health specialists surveyed mosquito larvae in villages across the country and found that many parts of these villages were found to have large quantities of larvae evident.
So far there are 161 people in the province that have reported cases of dengue fever. Only three have been confirmed as infected and the one person has died.
Dengue fever has become a regional and global issue and health experts of ASEAN member countries have called for a joint effort to fight against the fast-growing mosquito-borne deadly disease in the region.
One of the hardest-hit countries last year was the Philippines, which saw a 64.8 percent spike in suspected cases, up to 200,415 with 598 deaths. It has recorded 49,904 cases up to June 4. Enditem
