The number of locally acquired dengue fever cases continue to mount as the island reported 1,525 new cases last week, bringing the total since the summer to 7,425. This is an increase of approximate 4,200 cases during the past month.

Aedes mosquito
Aedes aegypti image/CDC

The vast majority of new indigenous dengue cases were reported from the southern city of Kaohsiung City, which saw 1,479 cases.

In addition, another fatality was reported in a 76-year-old man in Kaohsiung who contracted dengue fever for the 1st time in 2002.

So far this year, a cumulative total of 59 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever have been confirmed this year. Of the cases, 48 have been discharged from the hospital, 7 died, and 4 are still hospitalized.

The Taiwan CDC says as of October 27, 2014, a cumulative total of 7,636 cases of dengue fever, including 7,439 indigenous cases and 197 imported cases, have been confirmed this year. Of the cases, 7,425 cases were indigenous cases confirmed since this summer and 197 cases were imported from Malaysia (55), Indonesia (53), the Philippines (30), China (17), Singapore (9), Myanmar (7), Thailand (7), Vietnam (7), Nauru (2), Cambodia (2), Bangladesh (2), India (2), Japan (1), French Polynesia (1), Saudi Arabia (1) and Tuvalu (1).

Taiwan CDC stresses that they have entered the peak of the dengue season and the numbers of cases and deaths continue to increase rapidly in Kaohsiung.

Related: Dengue fever local transmission reported in Hong Kong, 1st case since 2010