Sri Lanka’s worst-ever dengue outbreak kills 225

The number of infections nationwide is already 38 per cent higher than last year, when 55,150 people were diagnosed with dengue and 97 died, according to the Health Ministry. The highest number of cases is in the region around the main city of Colombo, though cases were being reported across the tropical island nation.

“This is mostly an urban disease” said Dr. Priscilla Samaraweera of the National Dengue Eradication Unit. Last month’s heavy rains left the cities waterlogged, with puddles and rain-soaked garbage providing ideal spots for mosquitoes to breed and multiply.

In Colombo alone, 25 teams of soldiers, police officers and public health inspectors were knocking on doors at people’s homes, advising them to clear clogged drains and empty outdoor pots that might have filled with rainwater.

Health officials were also fumigating public spaces.

This year’s strain is particularly dangerous, Samaraweera said. There is no cure for any of the four strains of the virus, which causes a high fever, weeks of exhaustion and in some cases a vicious skin rash. Patients most at risk of dying are the elderly, children or those with other medical complications.

Hospitals were so crowded with dengue patients, the army was building two temporary wards at Negombo Base Hospital, about 38 kilometres (24 miles) north of Colombo, military spokesman Brig. Roshan Senevirathna said.

President Maithripala Sirisena urged the public to co-operate with officials trying to fight the disease, saying it could affect the “lives of all the citizens of the country.”

Bharatha Mallawarachi, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Sri Lanka’s worst-ever dengue outbreak kills 225

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