*China reports outbreak of dengue fever in south*

28 Aug 2006 06:56:56 GMT
Source: Reuters

BEIJING, Aug 30 (Reuters) - China's southern province of Guangdong has
reported a sharp rise in mosquito-transmitted dengue fever cases in the
past two months, with dozens of people still in hospital, state media
said on Monday. Experts blamed recent humid and hot weather and
inadequate anti-mosquito efforts in the area for the recent increase,
the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily said.

Most of the more than 70 infections so far this year have been reported
since June, and over 20 patients were still being treated in a hospital
in the provincial capital Guangzhou, prompting local authorities to
issue an epidemic warning, state television said.

But officials also urged residents not to panic, noting the outbreak was
caused by the least deadly of dengue virus' four forms and none of the
Guangdong cases has been fatal.

An endemic viral disease most common in the tropics, dengue is carried
by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which transmits the virus that can cause
fever, severe headache, joint and muscular pains, vomiting and rashes.

The newspaper said a bigger outbreak sickened more than 1,000 people in
Guangzhou in 2002. None of those cases were fatal.

Small-scale outbreaks of dengue fever have been reported occasionally in
Guangdong and the southeastern province of Fujian since the 1990s, the
official Xinhua news agency said.