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Dengue Outbreak Unfurls in Macao
Fourteen Macao residents have been diagnosed with dengue fever, following the epidemic outbreak in Southeast Asia in May.
To date, no dengue fever case has been reported in the mainland.
Besides the 14 recognized patients, another 17 Macao residents are suspected of having the fever -- an infectious viral disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, causing fever and skin inflammation.
According to the Health Bureau of Macao Special Administrative Region on Wednesday, these 17 will undergo further examination.
According to the bureau, some of the infected people have visited Southeast Asian countries recently.
Health departments of Macao and nearby Hong Kong, where there has been no reported outbreak, have taken tough measures to eliminate mosquito breeding sites in outbreak prone areas.
Officials with the State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine said Thursday that the administration has, so far, not received any reports of dengue fever in the mainland.
The administration will keep an watchful eye on the epidemic situation in some Southeast Asian countries and try to keep the epidemic out of the mainland, said Zhao Qinghui, director of the Quarantine Department of the administration.
A joint circular was released earlier this month by Chinese quarantine, health and tourism authorities, demanding that Chinese citizens who have travelled in Southeast Asian nations to report to quarantine authorities after entering China, if symptoms, such as headaches, fever or skin eruptions, occur.
Dengue fever originates in tropical and subtropical regions, according to Guo Zengzhu, a researcher with the Tropical Disease Research Institute under the Friendship Hospital in Beijing.
Early recognition and prompt supportive treatment are the best ways to treat the disease, and patients can recover within two weeks under such proper conditions, Guo said.
Deaths and reported cases due to dengue fever are on the rise this year in Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia, Viet Nam, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, a World Health Organization (WHO) report stated on Tuesday.
WHO is urging all tropical countries in the region to intensify their surveillance, in order to detect potential outbreak areas quickly and to implement epidemic control measures.
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