The Department of Disease Control (DDC) has warned people to guard against the spread of dengue fever after 2,683 cases were reported during the month of January.
According to the DDC's weekly forecast of diseases and health hazards for Feb 12-18, a total of 2,683 cases of dengue fever, with one death, were found during the period from Jan 1-Feb 1 – one case for every 405,000 people in Thailand.
The three age groups that suffered the most cases of dengue fever were 5-14 years old (11.63%), 15-24 years old (7.32%) and 0-4 years old (5.23%).
The highest number of dengue fever cases during the period were 996 in the Central region (15.73%), 649 in Bangkok (11.68%), 625 in the South (6.59%), 296 in the North (2.40%) and 117 in the Northeast (0.54%).
Since the Meteorological Department has forecast widespread rain this week, heavy in some areas, people are warned to watch out for the striped mosquitos that spread dengue fever.
People should avoid mosquito bites by sleeping under a mosquito net or in a room with window screens, and apply mosquito repellent.