Deadly dengue fever explodes in Southeast Asia

Dengue fever is an infection common to Thailand. The disease is carried by a particular species of mosquito, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is on the rise to becoming one of the top public health problems in the tropics.
The mosquito which carries this virus is most common in urban areas around human dwellings, and is most active during the daytime.
Dengue fever is an acute illness of sudden onset that usually follows a benign course with headache, fever, prostration, severe joint and muscle pain, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy) and rash. The presence (the "dengue triad") of fever, rash, and headache (and other pains) is particularly characteristic of dengue which is non-fatal.
Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is the most serious form of dengue fever, caused by the Dengue virus categorised in the family of Flaviviridae. It is a serious health problem in tropical regions. In the decade from 1989-1999, there were more than 700.000 cases of DHF in Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand. It killed about 6.125 people in Indonesia, 2.678 in Myanmar, and 4.089 in Thailand.
Actually the early rains have brought an explosion of dengue fever cases in Thailand, up by a third over the first six months of 2006.
The outbreak has killed 19 people in Thailand and affected more than 22,000 since the beginning of the year, the English-language Nation newspaper reported, quoting figures from the health ministry.
"The situation this year is more serious than last year because of the earlier arrival of the rainy season, which brought forward the hatching period of the dengue mosquito," Vichai Stimai, a doctor at the health ministry, wrote the Nation.
The incidence of dengue has been extremely on the rise in other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries including the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia during the period. For example the wealthy Singapore has seen 4.358 cases and 9 deaths and this week
Cambodia reported 142 deaths from dengue fever in June alone.