KUALA TERENGGANU: An eight-year-old girl became the seventh victim of dengue in the state when she died while receiving treatments at the Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital (HSNZ).
State Health director Dr Muhammad Omar said the latest victim was also a pupil of Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Budiman, who lives in the same area as the sixth victim, a 12-year-old girl who died last week.
Muhammad said the girl was admitted to the hospital three days ago after she vomited, suffered diarrhoea and eventually collapsed at home.
“She was weak when her parents sent her to the hospital and died at 3.30pm yesterday,” he said to reporters at his office today.
“The victim died of dengue shock syndrome where we detected plasma leakages on her blood veins,” he said.
Dr Muhammad said although the number of dengue patients in Kuala Terengganu had dropped from more than 200 patients to 102 patients that are still warded at HSNZ, the department must continue locating breeding areas which may have been overlooked during gotong royongs or fogging.
“We still have 776 cases recorded throughout the state. We view each case seriously and want to identify if there are any new dengue strains as well as monitoring patients for new symptoms. We have to immediately check for vector-borne disease as soon as it is reported,” he said.
He said three hotspots have been identified in Kuala Terengganu namely Jalan Panji Alam, Chendering Pantai and Losong Haji Mat Shafie, 37 localityies where the outbreak are still active.
