Dengue fever kills 38 children in Cambodia last year

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Dengue fever claimed the lives of 38 Cambodian children in 2015, up 81 percent from the year before, according to the latest figures on Tuesday.

The Southeast Asian country reported 15,412 dengue fever cases last year, a 314 percent rise from the year before, said the report of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control.

"The incident rate is 93.5 cases out of 100,000 people," the center's director, Huy Rekol, said in the report. "Some 71 percent of the patients were children aged between 5 and 14 years old."

Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted through the bite of an Aedes mosquito which is a day-biting mosquito. Its symptoms include sudden onset of high fever which can last from three to seven days, severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, and rash.

The outbreak of the mosquito- borne virus usually begins in the rainy season from May to October.

source : http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-01/12/c_135001930.htm