Thailand is hosting the third International Conference on Dengue and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever to find changing factors influencing the Dengue spread and how to deal with new strains.
The conference, being hosted by the Department of Disease Control (DDC), Ministry of Public Health, was opened today and will be held until 23 October at the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok. With the theme ‘Global Dengue: Challenges and Promises’, the conference brings together specialists from around the world, in a bid to enhance their collaboration and exchange of experiences in order to find ways to address Dengue-related problems such as the development of anti-dengue vaccines.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Public Health, Mr. Vichai Tienthavorn, said Dengue occurrences in the world have been altered by the change in climate which also influences some infectious diseases to re-emerge in developed countries, such as the significant increase of Aedes mosquitos in the United States. He said the conference is necessary to help the participants from around the world understand the pathology of Dengue fever for a more efficient control of the disease.
In Thailand, according to the Deputy Public Health Minister, there have been more than 135,000 Dengue cases as of 15 October this year. 126 of them died during the period.