AN outbreak of dengue fever in Port Moresby was announced by health officials yesterday. It was prompted by five confirmed cases, with at least one of the people diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease being a non-traveller. National Capital District public health director Dr Niko Wuatai said that meant the feared disease is in the capital and not brought from overseas as suspected in the past. “Last week Friday we confirmed two cases of dengue in NCD and three other cases were also confirmed in one of our public health hospitals, so we have five confirmed cases of dengue in the city,” Wuatai told a media conference in Port Moresby. “This is the first time that we have actually diagnosed two cases in our city.” Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to 14 days after infection. This may include high fever, headaches, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash. Recovery generally takes two to seven days. Wuatai said the dengue virus could have been in PNG for years but was never detected. “I think dengue has been around, but we were not looking specifically for dengue. Now that we have the test for dengue, we are picking it up,” he said. “The ones that we have diagnosed are from Bomana and 8-Mile areas.” Cases of dengue were reported from Daru, in Western, in early February and in the past few weeks an increased number of cases were reported. Wuatai said one of the confirmed cases had no history of travel. “Normally, every year we get cases of dengue fever but these cases were imported cases from people travelling into the country,” he said. “Last year we had cases coming from China, so a lot of our cases were imported cases. “Right now we have confirmed a case from someone who has never travelled out of the country. “So we are now working together and having discussions with our counterparts to request for them to do flogging of those requested areas or to request for them to flog the whole city to keep the mosquito population down.” Wuatai said it was difficult to differentiate signs and symptoms of dengue, Zika and the Chikungunya viruses, all known to cause deaths in a short period of time if not treated. “It’s very hard to distinguish between the three viral mosquito-borne diseases, but we know from one of the complaints from a patient who had Chikungunya that even after recovery, they still complained of joint pains,” he said. “Some can experience joint pains for six months, even after one year. “For dengue, you get very severe back pains, but different people suffer different symptoms.” Wuatai has called on city residents to make sure they clear their backyards of items that will help mosquitoes breed. “Make sure that there is no container of water and little things like that to help mosquitoes breed.”
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