Thailand has recorded 21,620 dengue fever cases and 31 deaths so far this year, according to the Department of Disease Control, as infections continue to rise during the country’s seasonal outbreak period.
The figures, covering January 1 through August 19, were released by the department on August 26. Dr. Anek Mungaomklang, the DDC’s deputy director-general under the Ministry of Public Health, said the numbers remain below both last year’s total and the department’s forecast for 2026, though the upward trend is continuing as the rainy season persists.
Bangkok has recorded 1,785 cases and four deaths, according to data from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Health Department. Anek said areas reporting multiple dengue cases need continued monitoring and control measures, including tracking patients, investigating new infections, and targeting both mosquito larvae and adult mosquitoes.
Dr. Pongtorn Chartpituck, director of the DDC’s Institute for Urban Disease Control and Prevention, said officials recently carried out joint disease-control work with Bangkok health agencies in the Bang Kapi district. Teams there identified accumulated rubbish and stagnant water as major environmental risk factors, since both provide breeding and resting grounds for Aedes mosquitoes, the species that spreads dengue.
Officials and residents in the area have been clearing rubbish and standing water from underneath homes and improving the surrounding grounds to cut down on potential breeding sites. Measures have also included setting up active screening points and checking schoolchildren for symptoms, along with community meetings to raise awareness and encourage residents to take part in prevention efforts. The DDC has also distributed mosquito repellent, fogging chemicals, and mosquito coils to support local control work.
Pongtorn said Aedes mosquitoes commonly lay eggs in containers that hold stagnant water, including household water containers, discarded containers, jar lids, plant-pot saucers, ant traps, and trays placed under table legs to stop pests. The department is urging residents to follow a three-step approach: clearing away rubbish and containers that collect water, keeping homes clean to reduce places where mosquitoes can rest, and keeping drinking and household water properly covered.
Health officials are also advising people to protect themselves directly by using mosquito repellent and sleeping under mosquito nets, particularly during Thailand’s rainy season, which typically runs from June through October and drives higher transmission nationwide.
Pongtorn urged the public to watch for a fever above 38.5 degrees Celsius lasting more than two days, especially when it comes with a headache, pain behind the eyes, facial redness, unusual thirst, or small bleeding spots beneath the skin on the arms, legs, or torso. Anyone with those symptoms should go to a hospital promptly rather than trying to treat themselves with over-the-counter medication, he said, since some common fever medicines can worsen internal bleeding in dengue patients.
Dengue is endemic in Thailand and spreads through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes, which tend to breed in and around homes rather than in open water sources. Case numbers typically climb during the wet season as standing water accumulates in urban and suburban areas, giving the mosquitoes more places to lay eggs.
The DDC’s latest figures suggest this year’s outbreak is tracking milder than 2025, but officials are treating the continued rise in case numbers as a signal to keep prevention measures active through the remainder of the rainy season rather than easing off.
