DILI – East Timor’s Ministry of Health has reported 1,998 case of dengue fever between January 1 and February 12.
According to a statement by the ministry last Saturday, the figure includes 1,365 cases in January and 633 in the first 12 days of this month.
A surge of dengue cases in East Timor has been seen since last December.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported earlier this month that although dengue in East Timor is not unexpected, the significant daily increase in the number of dengue cases and the rate of hospitalisation in the current outbreak are unusual.
The number of reported cases between December 1, 2021 to January 31, 2022 is substantially higher compared to the same periods in previous years since 2016, the WHO pointed out.
Sixty-four percent of the total cases (1,285) have been reported in the capital city of Dili.
30 dengue fatalities have been reported year between January 1 and February 12 this year, compared to 11 in all of 2021 and 10 in all of 2020.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection that is caused by four DENV serotypes (DENV 1, DENV 2, DENV 3 and DENV 4).
Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are widely adapted vectors for urban and peri-urban environments. Infection with one serotype provides long-term immunity to the homologous serotype but not to the other serotypes. Sequential infections put people at greater risk for severe dengue.
There is no specific treatment for dengue. Early recognition of dengue virus infection and appropriate clinical management can reduce the severity of disease and mortality among dengue cases.
East Timor, one of the world’s poorest countries, has a population of 1.3 million.
As of yesterday, East Timor’s COVID-19 tally stood at 21,748, including 124 fatalities, according to worldometers.info. The half-island nation off northern Australia has a population of 1.3 million.
– Courtesy of Outbreak News Today (additional reporting by The Macau Post Daily)
Schematic depiction of dengue fever symptoms – Image courtesy of Mikael Häggström/Wikimedia Commons
