A month after an outbreak of dengue fever was declared in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, health officials report in excess of 1700 cases.

Solomon Islands/CIA
Solomon Islands/CIA

The capital city of Honiara on Guadalcanal Island has seen more than 1400 dengue cases. Another 200 dengue cases have been reported elsewhere on the island.

Dozens have been hospitalized and at least one dengue related fatality has been recorded.

Dengue fever is a disease caused by any one of four closely related dengue viruses (DENV 1, DENV 2, DENV 3, or DENV 4). The viruses are transmittedto humans by the bite of an infectedAedes mosquito.

The principal symptoms of dengue fever are high fever, severe headache, severe pain behind the eyes, joint pain, muscle and bone pain, rash, and mild bleeding(e.g., nose or gums bleed, easy bruising). Generally, younger children and those with their first dengue infection have a milder illness than older children and adults.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there may be 50–100 million dengue infections worldwide every year. However, new research from the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust, using cartographic approaches, estimate there to be 390 million dengue infections per year worldwide.

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