Dengue fever has claimed its first victim in Chiang Mai this year, a 12-year-old fifth grader.
Sutheerat Mahasing, an academic at the Chiang Mai Public Health Office, said on Friday that Chanon Jomputu had died two days earlier.
But Sutheerat dismissed a rumour that the death resulted from a “new strain” of the dengue virus, blaming the tragedy instead on failure to get the proper treatment in time.
The boy contracted the virus in his village, Pang Kwai in Fang district, but rather than being taken to a hospital, he was treated at a small clinic on June 19 and quickly released, Sutheerat said.
When his condition worsened on June 23, he was sent to Fang District Hospital, which transferred him to Nakhon Ping Hospital, where he received blood platelets but died nevertheless.
