Less than a week since Japan reported their first locally acquired dengue fever case since 1945, the health ministry is now reporting that the case count is now up to 22, according to an AFP report today.

Aedes mosquito
Aedes aegypti image/CDC

Nineteen people in Japan have been confirmed to have dengue fever in addition to the three cases confirmed last month. The common link between the dengue patients is Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park.

None of the infected have been out of the country, thus acquired the mosquito borne virus in Japan. Japanese officials have begun spraying for mosquitoes in the Central Tokyo park in an effort to eliminate the dengue vector.

According to Kobe University virologist, Masanori Kameoka, the outbreak will be temporary. “Dengue virus is passed on between humans and mosquitoes and that cycle needs to continue to cause an epidemic,” said Kameoka. “The cycle will be cut when the weather cools down and mosquitoes die. It isn’t reported to be passed on to the next generation of mosquitoes through eggs.”

About 200 people come down with dengue fever in Japan every year, but they are believed to have contracted the virus while traveling overseas. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page