A SENIOR medical official said last week that the public needs to put knowledge about ways to prevent dengue fever into practice as the disease has affected children in all states and divisions in Myanmar except Chin State.

Dr Saw Lwin, the director of disease control under the Department of Health, said knowledge alone cannot prevent dengue fever if people do not transfer their awareness of how to prevent the disease into practice.

“There is a big gap between knowledge and practice,” he said. “Some people don’t know the cause of dengue fever or how to prevent it but many do know these things but still don’t pay attention to them.”

According to the Department of Health, 8200 people were infected with dengue from January to July this year resulting in about 100 deaths. The highest number of cases occurred in Yangon Division, Mon State and Ayeyarwady Division, in descending order.

“People need to understand that it is easy to fight larvae but not mosquitoes. They tend to ignore larvae and only start to think about the disease when they see mosquitoes,” Dr Saw Lwin said.

“We haven’t succeeded in changing behaviour yet. We need to educate communities on appropriate ways to promote the practice of prevention,” he said.

He said that in past years dengue was most prevalent in urban areas but now it is also occurring in rural areas.

“The incidence rate between urban and rural areas is roughly equal,” he said. “Dengue fever transmits more easily in urban communities where many people are in close contact but on the other hand people in these areas also have better access to healthcare centres.”

Dr Saw Lwin said changes in weather patterns in recent years have also helped dengue-bearing mosquitoes of the Aedes genus to breed at higher elevations.

Past surveys by the Department of Health revealed that Aedes mosquitoes rarely survived at elevations higher than 1070 metres (3500 feet) because low temperatures prevented breeding.

“This is no longer the case. We are now finding Aedes mosquitoes breeding in Taunggyi in Shan State, which is at more than 1430 metres (4700 feet) above sea level,” Dr Saw Lwin said.

He said Chin State has escaped the disease because of its cool climate.
“But if temperatures increase, Hakha in Chin state, at 1830 metres (6000 feet) above sea level, can be affected by dengue,” he said.

Dengue fever first appeared in Myanmar in 1970 in children in Yangon. In 1974 it started to spread to other states and divisions.

Dr Than Win, the deputy director and project manager of the Vector-Borne Diseases Control Program under the Department of Health, said people can carry the dengue virus without showing symptoms for three days.

“This is one reason the disease transmits so easily among children. The most heavily affected age group right now is between three and eight years old,” he said.

“We are now focusing on controlling larvae near schools to fight the disease. We also use fumigation but its effects only last for about two hours.”