Dengue fluctuates every year depending on measures taken to avoid an outbreak, said Wichai Satimai, director of Thailand’s bureau of vector-borne diseases. “If we can reduce the number of breeding places, then we can reduce the transmissions,” he said, noting that northern Nong Khai Province has not reported a dengue case for seven years.
A quarter of the cases come from the Thailand-Malaysia border area, Wichai said. Infected travellers – with symptoms so mild they are unaware they are ill – unknowingly spread the disease.
Francois Nosten, director of the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit in Mae Sot, a town near the Myanmar border, said cases had not increased in the western border regions of Thailand, an area prone to outbreaks.
nb/at/mw
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions