Phichit province battles floods, rising threat of dengue fever as Yom River breaks banks
Continuous heavy rain made the Yom River break its banks on Saturday and flood some 540 households in four districts of Phichit province.
The districts of Sam Ngam, Pho Prathap Chang, Bueng Narang and Bang Mun Nak are regularly flooded by overflows from the Yom River.
Yom, the main river in the lower North of Thailand, is fed by several basin areas in Sukhothai and Phitsanulok provinces, as well as runoffs from the Phetchabun mountain range.
Meanwhile, the provincial public health office has dispatched staff to spray insecticide at communities in Pho Prathap Chang district as well as get rid of sources where mosquitoes can lay eggs to prevent the spread of dengue fever.
People have also been advised to use mosquito nets and rid their properties of any rainwater trapped in puddles or containers to cut off mosquitoes’ life cycle.
Pho Prathap Chang district has been classified as a high-risk area as it reported 29 cases of dengue fever this year. The Moo 10 community in Wang Jik subdistrict, which has very few households, is of high concern as it has already reported six dengue fever cases.
The Department of Disease Control reported that from January 1 to August 16 this year, a total of 65,552 cases of dengue fever have been reported. This corresponds to a rate of 99.05 cases per 100,000 population and as the number of patients rises, so does the mortality rate.
So far, 58 individuals have succumbed to this disease, which has infected three times more people than last year.
