Latest Japan news reveal new cases of Dengue fever cases in the country.
Japan's health ministry said on Thursday (August 28) that three young persons have become affected of dengue fever in the country in almost 70 years; the last was in 1945.
The patients were identified as a man in his 20s living in Tokyo, and a teen and a woman who both hail from the Saitama Prefecture north of Tokyo. All indentified patients are attending the same educational institution in the capital. Allegedly, the three are members of a dance group practicing regularly in Yoyogi Park, where the patients were reportedly bitten by Dengue carrying mosquitoes.
Officials, however, said these cases are not life-threatening.
The teenager, having a high fever, was sent to a hospital in Saitama City near Tokyo. Suspicion arose that this might be a dengue case, so hospital staff sent blood samples to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo. It was later confirmed to be Dengue.
The carrier of the disease, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is not found in Japan. The tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), which is prevalent in the country, is said to be the vector of Dengue fever.
However, recent Japan news say that Japanese officials have not detected the virus in the tiger mosquitoes caught in Yoyogi Park.
According to the World Health Organization, Dengue fever is not transmitted from one person to another. Its symptoms are fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pain, and rashes. There is no vaccine available for this disease, but people with Dengue fever should rest, drink plenty of fluids, and reduce the fever by taking paracetamols, and see a doctor at once.
About 200 Dengue fever cases are recorded annually in Japan, but the patients have contracted the disease abroad, specifically in Southeast Asia.
After the news about the disease broke out, prices of pesticides on the Tokyo market increased quickly.
The health ministry, however, has downplayed insinuations of an outbreak.
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