VIENTIANE, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Lao Health officials and medical staff have been advised to make sure that all dengue patients closely follow the treatment plan provided by doctors to ensure that they recover from the illness, local media reported Tuesday.
Khampe Phongsavath, president of the Paediatrics Association of Laos, and a member of the dengue control and prevention team under Lao Ministry of Health, on Saturday talked to the media about the treatment of dengue.
Khampe said anyone with a fever and two or more of the following symptoms should urgently visit a health professional. The symptoms to watch out for are nausea, vomiting, rash, and generalized aches and pains. A blood test will be carried out and a diagnosis given, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Tuesday.
In 2019, Lao health officials are faced with the highest number of dengue fever cases in recent years, said Khampe, adding that he wanted to give advice to people so that they were properly informed about ways to protect themselves against the dengue virus.
The Lao Ministry of Health has been advising everyone to take specific steps to keep dengue at bay, since an unusual number of cases started to be reported in January. All provinces have set up special taskforces to engage the public in efforts to prevent and control the disease.
Director of the ministry's Healthcare and Rehabilitation Department Bounnack Saysanasongkham said the ministry is encouraging everyone to make sure that all stagnant water is removed, in order to prevent dengue-carrying mosquitoes from breeding.
Till Saturday, 20,388 people had been diagnosed with dengue fever and 48 had died countrywide in Laos, according to a report of the Ministry of Health.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 2.5 billion people live in dengue risk groups with about 100 million new cases each year worldwide.
According to the WHO, climate change and global warming will increase vector-borne diseases such as dengue.
