Published 9 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b967
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b967

News

Dengue fever epidemic hits northern Australia

Jane McCredie

1 Sydney

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Authorities in northern Queensland have mounted a major public health and vector control campaign after the country’s first death related to dengue fever since 2004 was confirmed on 4 March.

More than 650 cases of the mosquito borne disease have been confirmed in the area since December, whereas in previous recent episodes 500 or so cases had been spread over more than a year, and this is the first time in Australia that all four serotypes have been found circulating simultaneously.

The largest outbreak, of type 3 dengue, is centred on the tourist town of Cairns, where one patient is confirmed to have died after contracting the disease and several others have developed its more serious form, dengue haemorrhagic fever. Although the fatality was an elderly woman with several comorbidities, authorities said that dengue fever was likely to have contributed to her death.

Jeffrey Hanna, a public health physician from . . . [Full text of this article]


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