Dengue has always been a problem in Malaysia because of the large number of mosquitoes combined with many people’s indifference to helping control the menace. Dengue can kill people, but if it is identified and treated, it’s rarely fatal.
In the first eight months of this year, the number of reported cases in Selangor rose 25% to 8,694, and in KL rose 8% to 1,442. Only 10 of these have resulted in deaths, but it is still an alarming increase.
The problem usually arises because people allow water to accumulate, sometimes in discarded receptacles, and mosquitoes breed in the stagnant water. Another common breeding ground is places where rubbish is dumped.
Frequent inspections and fines for letting mosquitos breed on your premises have had a limited degree of success, as have notices warning of the danger. Interestingly, only the female Aedes
mosquito can carry dengue and bites people for the protein in their blood to help develop its eggs. They pick up the virus from infected people.
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