By Dilanthi Jayamanne
The number of dengue cases has decreased by fifty percent during the last two months. The spokesman for the Health Ministry said yesterday that the highest number of cases had been recorded during the months of June and July – 3,471 and 4,774 respectively and attributed to the reported decrease in the incidence of the disease to successful dengue eradication programmes.
Dengue would have reached an epidemic level if timely action had not been taken, he said.
The Epidemiology Unit recorded 6,950 cases between January and the second week of September in the Colombo District while the total number of cases reported from the Colombo Municipal Council area, within the same period, was over 2,320.
The second highest number of over 2,600 recorded within the first eight months of this year was from the Gampaha District. The spokesman said that the total number of deaths recorded from January till the second week of September had been 124.
However, carelessness on the part of the public was one of the main causes for the high number of cases. They had been advised to seek medical assistance from a government hospital if they had fever for more than two days, the Health Ministry Spokesman said.
Responding to a question, the spokesman said that Sri Lanka had sufficient experience in managing dengue - adequate for it to be able to deploy a medical team to assist Pakistan in battling dengue.
An eleven-member team of doctors including paediatricians were dispatched to Punjab, Pakistan on Tuesday (13) to assist in dengue management.
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