Dengue fever cases in Hong Kong are on the rise, according to the Department for Health. Almost all are imported from nearby countries. The highest number of new cases are coming back from Thailand.
In an announcement this week the department said dengue cases in Hong Kong had reached 99 so far this year. In the same period last year the number was 53.
Travellers who brought the female Aedes mosquito-borne viral disease back to Hong Kong came from Thailand 18, Indonesia and Malaysia 17 each, and Cambodia 16. Then the numbers for returning victims drops to single digits for Maldives, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Nepal, Vietnam, Fiji, Singapore, Bangladesh, India and Myanmar.
Dengue fever is dangerous. At BUZZ we remember a friend who came back from Sri Lanka with the disease. She got so skinny we feared for her life and it took her two years to recover. The symptoms are sudden high fever, severe headaches, pain behind the eyes, severe joint and muscle pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and skin rash.
The late Professor Anthony J Hedley, epidemiologist head of the Hong Kong University’s School of Public Health, advised friends travelling with him to wear shirts with long sleeves, long pants, treat clothes with repellents like permethrin, and use mosquito repellent on exposed skin with strong chemicals such as DEET. When sleeping in an area infested with mosquitoes use a mosquito net.
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