Spotlight on dengue danger after Thai actor stricken with disease

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DEADLY DISEASE
Spotlight on dengue danger after actor stricken with disease
Puangchumpoo Prasert
Kampranart Lalong
The Nation


Actor Tridsadee Sahawong

BANGKOK: -- THAI medical centres are now on full alert for the deadly threat of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF), after the disease left popular actor Tridsadee Sahawong in a critical condition.

Tridsadee, 37, is now receiving treatment at the Ramathibodi Hospital. His doctors said yesterday that although Tridsadee had responded to treatment, his condition remained critical.

The Disease Control Department's deputy director-general, Dr Opart Karnkawinpong, said DHF had already killed 102 people this year.

"The spread of DHF is serious. As many as 102,000 people have come down with the disease between January and now," he said.

Dr Opart said the DHF epidemic was almost as serious as the severe outbreak in 2013 that infected 154,444 people and caused 136 deaths.

Opart suspected that the hot temperature and intermittent rains this year might have facilitated the breeding of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the main carrier of the disease, and spurred the outbreak.

"The risk of it spreading is higher in crowded cities like Bangkok, Chiang Mai and [Nakhon Ratchasima's] Korat," he said.

Opart said DHF was a serious disease capable of causing one death in 1,000 patients on average.

He explained that there was no medicine to cure the disease and available medicines could only provide palliative care.

While efforts have been made to develop a DHF vaccine, none has hit the market yet.

Opart said to prevent the spread of DHF, it was necessary the mosquito larvae be eradicated.

"But the problem is homeowners usually don't do this. When agencies offer the spraying services to eradicate larvae breeding grounds, many residents are reluctant to take officials into their houses," he said.

A survey by his ministry shows that more than 80 per cent of Thais know about DHF, but only about 20 per cent have eradicated mosquito larvae.

Tridsadee's case has so far significantly raised public awareness about the lethal consequences of DHF.

The actor had been treated at a private hospital for several days before being transferred to the Ramathibodi Hospital on Monday.

Dr Porpon Rotjanapan, who works at the infectious-diseases unit of the Mahidol University's Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, said yesterday that upon arrival at the hospital, Tridsadee had difficulty breathing and signs of a blood abnormality.

"Then we found he also had acute renal failure and sought help from kidney specialists," he said.

Porpon said doctors were satisfied with Tridsadee's response to treatments so far, but the team was aware the actor was not yet in a safe condition.

"He has definitely come down with DHF. But he may also have developed other complications. He might have caught some viruses or bacteria," he said.

According to Porpon, such complications are rare but have been recorded in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India.

The faculty's dean, Prof Dr Winit Puapradit, said medical specialists from various fields had been treating Tridsadee to the best of their ability.

Ramathibodi Hospital director Dr Surasak Leela-udomlipi said his hospital would keep the public updated about Tridsadee's condition.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Spotlight-on-dengue-danger-after-actor-stricken-wi-30272736.html


-- The Nation 2015-11-12

[Soi Sauce]

There's a massive population out there under threat, with no acess to this actor's money for the best treatment.

Why make a fuss of him?

[NongKhaiKid]

Thai medical centres on alert because an actor takes ill and is in a critical condition ?

I have nothing for sympathy for anyone taking ill and it might just be an over sensational report but there's always that element of ' status ' to the fore in LoS.

[Somtamnication]

News media never contacted me 2 months ago. Wife came in asking for the atm card, but other than that, nada!!

[maoro2013]

I'm sure it is not all DHF, this is a type of Dengue fever. Ordinary Dengue is bad but not as critical as DHF. I have had it, and I did recover after about 7 days.

Even for normal Dengue I was not given any medicine, (possibly Paracetamol) as it took longer to work out what the disease was than the attack lasted.

No dengue is any fun.

[leeneeds]

Precautions, long sleeves, go inside earlier, Any sign in your kids take to hospital straight away , don't truck around ,

[torpedo1970]

TIT

Spotlight on this only because a hi-so get sick....

Dengue has been around all the time and will still stay around unless one is fighting it.

Before the junta took over, our rural village in Isaan was completely fumigated once a year to fight it...

now not so much.... no money they say.....

But money for submarines and limmos yeah right....

TIT

[BlindMagician]

Read the next article in TV's list. No mention of actors in that one.

[Asiantravel]

Precautions, long sleeves, go inside earlier, Any sign in your kids take to hospital straight away , don't truck around ,

what do you mean go inside earlier? The dengue mosquito is a daytime insect so you can't stay indoors all day just because you worried about being bitten.

[springheeled jack]

I am sure there are a lot of people in Thailand who don't know about dengue fever they know about mosquitos but I don't think they realise there is a type of mosquito which can spread this virulent disease dengue everybody must be on their guard .

[swissman53]

Thai people only listen to something when an actor or singer have or did something,

So maybe there will be a good response to take more care ...

[Suradit69]

Thai medical centres on alert because an actor takes ill and is in a critical condition ?

I have nothing for sympathy for anyone taking ill and it might just be an over sensational report but there's always that element of ' status ' to the fore in LoS.

"Thai medical centres on alert because an actor takes ill and is in a critical condition ?"

No, The Nation and Thai Visa, neither of which dispenses medical care, is on high alert. And because some people are more apt to react, positively or negatively, to news about some "celebrity" there is some value in reporting about him because it does catch people's attention.

When Britain has had to cope with one of its numerous outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the press covered the British minister of agriculture trying to stuff a hamburger down one of his children (who sensibly refused to cooperate) as well as publishing photos of the Queen Mother being dragged through a cattle dip. Publicity (aka propaganda) often is most effective when you can manage to catch the attention of the unwashed masses ... as TV demonstrates with this particular posting.

[cyberfarang]

There are no ways to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. Sooner or later one will appear with our name on it. They will even target us when we are asleep and off guard.

All we can do is be aware, but eventually we all get bitten by the bug at sometime.

[HomeinThailand]

When did the everyday citizen become a pile of dog dung? It would appear the world is following the good'ol US of A where celebrities only matter and everyone else is cannon fodder. I don't wish dengue fever on anyone but even after 102 deaths the spotlight only happened when the actor got sick???!!! Seriously?!?!?!?!

[impulse]

Dozens of diseases internationally get extra attention (and donations) when celebrities are stricken.

If that's what it takes to get the word out, good on him, and good on the health care system for using his celebrity for a worthwhile purpose.

[tomyummer]

There's a massive population out there under threat, with no acess to this actor's money for the best treatment.

Why make a fuss of him?

Because he makes quality Thai dramas with nagging hot Thai chicks? The world cannot live without these. Edited November 12, 2015 by tomyummer

[johnnysunshine]

If it is dengue fever, many now know that papaya leave juice (extracting the papaya leaf and adding to water) knocks out this insidious fever in a few days rather than weeks...check it out for your self as I know personally of many who have alleviated their symptoms rapidly!