Since the beginning of the year through April 16, Vanuatu health officials have reported a total of 216 suspected dengue cases reported including 18 confirmed cases.

Aedes aegypti/CDC

In just the past week, 42 suspected dengue cases reported in Port Vila and Luganville and 4 cases were confirmed positive for dengue in Luganville only.

The DENV-2 serotype has been circulating in Vanuatu for the last 2 years. Since Nov. 2016, some 2000 suspected dengue cases, two thirds are under 25 years old, have been reported in Vanuatu.

Vanuatu confirms two diphtheria cases

Dengue infects nearly 400 million people across more than 120 countries each year. Most survive with few or no symptoms, but more than two million annually develop what can be a dangerous dengue hemorrhagic fever, which kills more than 25,000 people each year.

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Dengue viruses are arboviruses (arthropod-borne virus) that are transmitted primarily to humans through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito.