The Fiji Health Ministry is reporting the Labasa hospital laboratory in the North is confirming two to three cases of dengue per day since the beginning of the year, bringing the dengue outbreak total to 68, according to a Fiji Village report today.

Image/CDC
Image/CDC

This is up 20 cases in the past week.

The outbreak is primarily affecting Macuata subdivision and specifically in the rural areas of Labasa.

Elsewhere in the South Pacific, French Polynesia has reported an estimated 130,000 chikungunya cases since October 2014.This includes 14 deaths.

The French Polynesia outbreak is reportedly decreasing, according to Auckland health officials.

Outbreaks of dengue in Tonga and in Cairns, Australia are increasing.

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 withsymptoms 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. 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.