dengue fever

Health minister Imaes Roberts said those in hospital are not in a critical condition and there have been no deaths related to the latest dengue type 3 outbreak which was detected last month.

Mr Roberts said five people died from the mosquito borne disease in 2016 but he said he's confident the latest outbreak will be contained.

He said the public has taken preventative measures against mosquitoes but says recent rain has not helped.

He praised the public's response to clean-up and awareness campaigns regarding preventative measures against mosquitoes.

A biomedical lab in Tahiti has succeeded in nearly eradicating mosquitoes from a tiny nearby island, and researchers are gearing up to eliminate the pests from a larger island that is permanently inhabited by people. 

The eventual goal is to cut off transmission routes for mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika, which plague the Pacific. Researchers also hope that reducing the mosquito burden will help populations of local birds. On other islands, such as Hawaii, avian malaria spread by mosquitoes can devastate bird populations. 

New Zealand travellers are being warned to take precautions when going to affected areas amid a surge of dengue fever in the Pacific this year, and a “type 2” strain that hasn't been seen in 20 years.

The symptoms of aching joints, headaches and fever are the same, but the absence of the strain until recently means many people haven't developed immunity to it.

Loop lifestyle brings information you should know about Dengue and Severe Dengue made available by the City Pharmacy group through their awareness program.

DENGUE is a mosquito-borne viral disease that has rapidly spread in all regions of WHO in recent years.

Dengue virus is transmitted by female mosquitoes mainly of the species Aedesaegypti, and to lesser extent.

 The disease is widespread throughout the tropics, with local variations in risk influenced by rainfall, temperature and unplanned rapid urbanization.

In the Solomon Islands more than 10-thousand dengue fever cases have been confirmed since an outbreak last August, Vanuatu has had more than 1700 since November, and New Caledonia has had more than 1-thousand cases since September.

WHO surveillance officer Viema Biaukula said many of the outbreaks had been identified as dengue serotype 2 which she said was likely being spread by travel.

Health secretary Pascoe Kase said: “Recent testing by the PNG Institute of Medical Research of patients with fever has confirmed the presence of a dengue outbreak in Kiunga, Western Province.

“Also there has been an outbreak of fever illness in Port Moresby since late February and rapid diagnostic tests have identified dengue as the cause.”

But the country’s health boss did not give the confirmed number of people diagnose so far.