PHNOM PENH, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has warned of dengue fever outbreak as the annual rainy season has begun, the health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Southeast Asian country reported 1,915 dengue fever cases in the first five months of 2016, an increase of 98 percent from only 968 cases over the same period last year, the statement said, adding that the virus killed four children during the January-May period this year, up from just one death over the same period last year.
Health Minister Mam Bunheng urged parents to have their children slept under mosquito nets to prevent them from being bitten by mosquitoes.
He also appealed to households to fill in puddles around houses, which are sources of mosquitoes.
The minister also advised parents to bring their ill children to the nearest health centers if they suspected that their kids had dengue fever.
Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted through the bite of an Aedes mosquito which is a day-biting mosquito. Its symptoms include sudden onset of high fever which can last from three to seven days, severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, and rash.
The outbreak of the virus usually begins in the rainy season from May to October.
