Sri Lanka health officials have seen the total dengue fever case tally rise by 1845 since our last report, bringing the total to 22,799 through July 8.
The capital region of Colombo has recorded 7369 cases to date alone.
Local media reports that the death toll due to dengue is 40 in Sri Lanka to date.
The World Health Organization says 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 symptoms appearing 3-14 days after the infective bite.
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.
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.
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