Dengue deaths in Cambodia this year exceed 2006 toll

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Dengue fever deaths in Cambodia so far this year have eclipsed fatalities in 2006 as the country battles one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in a decade, medical officials said Thursday.

Some 182 fatalities have been recorded for the first half of this year out of 14,986 cases, said Ngan Chantha, director of the health ministry's dengue program. Last year 152 deaths were reported.

"The disease is continuing to spread, but it is a little bit better than before," he told AFP, adding that Siem Reap province, home to the Angkor temples, a tourist drawcard, was the worst affected.

Medical staff have been sent to the countryside to reinforce poorly equipped and staffed rural clinics.

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