BANGKOK: The Ministry of Public Health reported on Friday that the number of influenza patients in Thailand has been rising since early this year, especially during the current rainy season with frequent downpours and the ongoing Euro 2012 matches.

Dr Pornthep Sirivanarangsan, Director-General of the ministry's Department of Disease Control, cautioned that the number of patients of human flu of almost all strains in Thailand will likely keep rising next month.

Quoting the ministry, Thai News Agency reported that deteriorating health had been detected in a number of Thai football fans due to their insufficient sleep at night.

Dr Pornthep acknowledged that most of the flu patients in Thailand this year have been found to contract the H3N2 virus, followed by the type B and the H1N1 virus, and that most of the flu cases have been slated in Lampang Province in the Thai North, followed by Uttaradit Province in the Lower Thai North and Songkhla , Phuket and Pang-nga Provinces in the Thai South.

According to the senior health official, there have been a total of 13,284 confirmed flu cases throughout Thailand from January 1-June 18, 2012, or 20.91 out of every 100,000 Thai population, with most cases, or accounting for 11.53 percent of the overall flu cases, are 25-34 years old.

The senior public health official noted that there have been as many as 3.5 million doses of flu vaccine available in Thailand, but only 180,000 people have been vaccinated, advising that the public always wash their hands, use serving spoons for common dishes and consume only well-cooked food and drink clean water.


- Bernama