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Dengue Fever Cases Near Nanjing Highlight Global Threat

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The frightening disease that is Dengue fever has surfaced close to home, as authorities confirm a case of the vector-borne killer in the county-level city of Jurong, that has its border with Nanjing’s Qixia District in the city’s far northeast.

On 10 July, authorities in Jurong confirmed a case of Dengue Fever in a 29-year old male who had worked in Cambodia in March. The man, surnamed Sun, works for a Nanjing decoration company, revealed PSA Jurong (句容发布).

The case is the second to have been reported in recent days emerging not far from Nanjing. On 5 July, the city of Guangde in southeastern Anhui Province, on the border with Huzhou City in Zhejiang Province, detected a case of Dengue fever in someone who had previously travelled to India, Myanmar and Pakistan.

Dengue Fever in China is nothing new. From China’s opening up in 1978 to 2008, there were a total of 655,324 cases reported, with 610 deaths occurring as a result. Ever since, as the migrant population has grown, so has Dengue fever spread.

Traditionally, Dengue epidemics have spread gradually northward from the southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan.

That it travel as far north as Anhui and our very own Jiangsu province is highly unusual.

The increased prevalence of the disease is also happening on a more regional level within Asia. Singapore is at present trying to contain not only Covid, but also Dengue fever. According to Medical Life Sciences News, the island state on 6 July reported 15,273 Dengue fever infections. There have been at least 16 deaths from the disease.

Last month, a report by the World Health Organisation said, “About half of the world’s population is now at risk. There are an estimated 100-400 million infections each year”. The increasing numbers are thought by many to be largely down to increasing migration and the human encroachment on wildlife that comes from unplanned rapid urbanisation.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dengue fever is the second-most serious vector-borne disease in the world, second only to malaria in terms of morbidity and mortality.

The vector in this case, is the Aedes aegypti mosquito, that can spread not only Dengue fever, but also Chikungunya, Mayaro, Yellow fever and Zika fever. Originating in Africa, A. aegypti is now found in temperate, tropical, subtropical and regions all over the world.

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