The number of dengue fever cases reported from the northern Mozambique province of Nampula has jumped more than 30 cases during the past week, according to a Star Africa report.

Aedes aegypti/CDC
Aedes aegypti/CDC

Mozambique health authorities say the number of confirmed cases of the deadly Dengue outbreak in the country’s northern province of Nampula has risen to 143 up from 110 last week.

In addition, the Nampula Medical provincial head, Joselina Calavate says there are 577 suspect cases identified since the beginning of this year.

According to the World Health Organization, dengue is transmitted by the bite of a mosquito infected with one of the four dengue virus serotypes. It is a febrile illness that affects infants, young children and adults with symptomsappearing 3-14 days after the infective bite. As many as 400 million people areinfected yearly.

Dengue is not transmitted directly from person-to-person and symptoms range from mild fever, to incapacitating high fever, with severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, and rash. There is no vaccine or any specific medicine to treat dengue. People who have dengue fever should rest, drink plenty of fluids and reduce the fever using paracetamol or see a doctor.

Severe dengue (also known as dengue hemorrhagic fever) is characterized by fever, abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, bleeding and breathing difficulty and is a potentially lethal complication, affecting mainly children. Early clinical diagnosis and careful clinical management by trained physicians and nurses increase survival of patients.