Kantha Bopha children’s hospital in Phnom Penh rescued a 4-year-old child from the last stages of severe dengue fever, which is often fatal. The hospital called his survival “one out of 10,000” due to the dangers of late-stage dengue fever, especially in children.
The boy was born in Tbong Khmum province. He was admitted to one health centre in the province and the doctor transfused three litres of serum before sending him on to Kantha Bopha Hospital last week when his condition failed to improve.
“The little boy lost pulse, fainted, was bleeding, had shortness of breath, liver and kidney failure, six times he suffered repeated cardiovascular collapses over 48 hours in the emergency room of Kantha Bopha Hospital. The little boy was rescued with six units of blood and four units of plasma and three days of emergency care and resuscitation,” said the hospital on its social media post, adding that the boy survived and is now in stable condition.
“Thank you and congratulations to the team of emergency doctors of Kantha Bopha Hospital Phnom Penh who saved the life of this child from this rare case of severe dengue fever,” the hospital said.
At the same time, the hospital also thanked the National Blood Transfusion Centre, which supports blood donations and provides plasma extract platelets and blood for emergency infusions.
Thousands of people on Facebook wrote messages expressing their appreciation and gratitude for the work of the doctors and the good news.
Some said the little boy got a new lease on life and that Kantha Bopha is like deities. Other messages reminded Cambodians to donate money to support Kantha Bopha in order to save sick and injured children.
Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital provides treatment to all children and pregnant mothers without regard for their ability to pay any part of the costs, the hospital said.
Regarding the dengue situation, the Ministry of Health’s National Dengue Control Programme (NDCP) director Leang Rithea said recently that the dengue situation this year may increase to more than 20,000 cases.
Therefore, the ministry had prepared 200 tonnes of Abate and 70,000 serum doses, along with nearly 6,000 litres of mosquito repellent and stepped-up the pace of its educational messages on dengue prevention measures.
A report from the ministry shows that the cycle of large-scale dengue outbreaks occurs every 5-6 years, with Cambodia having the last large-scale dengue outbreak in 2019, which saw 68,597 patients and 48 deaths.
That would put this year’s dengue outbreak a bit early for it to be the peak of the cycle but some natural variation can occur.
In 2022, there were more than 12,500 cases of dengue fever, killing 19 people.
