JEDDAH: Health Affairs has said the number of dengue fever cases has risen in central areas of the Jeddah Governorate since the beginning of 2011. However, it said figures for the region as a whole had fallen by fifty percent last year. Sami Eid, Assistant Manager for Primary Healthcare at Health Affairs, said the rise of dengue cases in certain areas was due to a number of factors, the most significant being the increase in mosquitoes in those zones. “Hospitals in Jeddah have registered over the last couple of days a fall in dengue cases, however,” Eid told Okaz/Saudi Gazette Monday. “Cases have been on the rise though and the fever appears to have reached a settling point. It will not be easy to eradicate it.” He said that joint awareness and health campaigns run by the Jeddah Mayoralty and Health Affairs were effective. The campaigns involve house-to-house visits to inform the public of methods of prevention and protection as well as to spray areas of mosquito proliferation. “Teams work to identify sites and spray pesticides and increase public awareness on the issue,” he said. “The methods employed are effective if they are carried out properly.” Sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that since the beginning of the year there has been an average of 12 confirmed cases of dengue fever in Jeddah per week. The mayoralty campaigns, conducted alongside campaigns by the ministries of Health and Agriculture, have brought the number of cases down by fifty percent during the same period last year, despite heavy rains and flooding during that time.
