Taken from The Star Online

MUAR: Johor Baru recorded the highest number of dengue cases in the state at the start of 2010 with 35 cases reported up to Jan 9 this year. The city has four areas regarded as hot spots namely Taman Dahlia, Taman Century, Taman Desa Cemerlang and Taman Megah Ria.

State Women, Family, Health and Community Development Committee chairman Dr Robia Kosai said the number of cases showed that city residents still kept water containers around their homes. “These containers and uncollected rubbish make good breeding grounds for Aedes mosquitoes.

“We urge the people, especially those living in apartments and flats, to check their surroundings for such breeding places,” she told reporters after launching a wild boar hunting party in Kampung Parit Kemang near Sungai Balang recently. Dr Robia said the state recorded a drop in cases last year with 2,528 falling ill compared to 3,911 in 2008. The number of deaths due to dengue was 15 in 2008 and only three last year.

She said the drop was due to increasing awareness in looking after cleanliness of homes and the surroundings among Johoreans. She said the State Health Department had checked 494,564 premises and found 7,438 of them to be Aedes breeding grounds. The department issued 3,383 summonses and collected RM519,150 in compounds, she said, adding that it fogged 1,104,677 premises last year.

The department held more than 6,000 talks and distributed more than 500,000 pamphlets on the matter. “We hope that people will be more proactive in cleaning their homes and ridding all breeding grounds and rubbish in their areas this year,” she added.