Antara News, Wednesday, December 30, 2009 18:31 WIB
Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung (ANTARA News) - Seven residents of Bangka Belitung (Babel) have died of dengue fever, according to a local official.
Fogging had been conducted in 20 houses to prevent the further spread of the disease, Helmi Soefie, head of the Babel health service`s disease control section, said here on Wednesday.
He also urged local residents to follow a healthy life style in order to prevent the breeding of the mosquitoes that spread the disease.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne infection which n recent decades has become a major international public health concern. Dengue is found in tropical and sub-tropical regions around the world, predominantly in urban and semi-urban areas.
Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF), a potentially lethal complication, was first recognized in the 1950s during dengue epidemics in the Philippines and Thailand.
The incidence of dengue has grown dramatically around the world in recent decades. Some 2.5 billion people, two fifths of the world`s population, are now at risk from dengue. WHO currently estimates there may be 50 million dengue infections worldwide every year.
In 2007 alone, there were more than 890 000 reported cases of dengue in the Americas, of which 26 000 cases were DHF.
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