Sri Lanka health officials have reported 20443 suspected dengue cases during the first five months of 2018.

Sri Lanka/CIA
Sri Lanka/CIA

In 2017, the country saw a massive number of dengue cases with 186,101 suspected cases, including 320 deaths. This was the largest dengue outbreak experienced by the country for last three decades.

The highest numbers of dengue cases were reported during the 29th week of 2017. All four virus types of dengue have been seen in Sri Lanka. The outbreak was predominantly due to Dengue Fever Virus Type 2 (DEN-2), which was not the usual type circulating in Sri Lanka. According to the WHO, this is a 4.3-fold higher than the average number of cases for the same period between 2010 and 2016.