Myanmar is stepping up prevention against dengue fever, especially in two populated suburban townships in Yangon division, following reports on the outbreak in some wards in the townships, according to Monday's official newspaper New Light of Myanmar.

Preventive measures are being carried out at basic education primary schools and wards in Thakayta and Dagon Myothit-South townships with medical inspection teams giving educative talks and demonstration on the measures, the report said.

Fresh dengue fever occurred in late last June in Dagon Myothit (North and South) and Hlaingtharya townships in Yangon division, affecting children of five years of age and above, earlier reports said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), in cooperation with the Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association and the Myanmar Red Cross, launched a 700,000- US-dollar anti-dengue-fever campaign in 11 storm-hit townships in Yangon and Ayeyawaddy divisions, giving priority to the two areas where disease-carrying mosquitoes have become a major concern.

According to the WHO, there registered 781 dengue patients in Yangon division and 481 in Ayeyawaddy division as of the end of May.

Meanwhile, the state media reported no outbreak of other contagious and epidemic diseases in the storm-hit areas, saying that a total of 206,039 storm patients had received medical treatment during a month after the cyclone storm hit the country on last May 2-3.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2008)