Dengue cases

The Team Coordinator, Health Security and Communicable Diseases, Angela Merianos, says outbreaks were reported from American Samoa, Fiji, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu in 2017.

She said Wallis and Futuna has had an outbreak of dengue type 1, with French Polynesia and New Caledonia having both serotypes 1 and 2 of the illness.

Dr Merianos said Niue has had types 2 and 4, with Kiribati recently reporting type 2 dengue fever.

Supervising Public Health Inspector, Sela Fa'u, said despite the numbers being on the rise, admissions to the health centres and the hospital were falling.

The recorded cases were on the main island of Tongatapu and in Vava'u, Ha'apai and on 'Eua.

Radio Tonga reported the youngest patient with dengue fever was an infant while the eldest was about 70.

A national campaign to clean up possible mosquito breeding sites ended this week.

Supervising Public Health Inspector, Sela Fa'u, says a cleaning up campaign is underway and officials are working to destroy mosquito breeding areas in villages where the victims of dengue fever live.

They are focusing on swampy areas in the central district.

Ms Fa'u says it is important for people to practice hygienic lifestyles during the recovering period from last month's Cyclone Gita, in an effort to control the spread of dengue.

Tonga declared a dengue outbreak following the death of a 12-year-old New Zealand girl in the kingdom in late January.

Hospital staff initially thought it was a form of flu, but her condition deteriorated rapidly and showed signs of what he called “dengue shock syndrome.”

Blood tests pointed to dengue and a sample had been sent to New Zealand for further testing and serotyping.

Telefoni who is from New Zealand died at Vaiola Hospital last Tuesday, 24 January.

She was due to return home today.

There have been 19 other cases of the dengue reported.

Fiji has now confirmed 143 cases, Nauru has confirmed more than 50, and 13 have been confirmed in American Samoa.

That follows outbreaks in Solomon Islands which has had more than 10,000 dengue cases in the last seven months, and in Vanuatu which has had more than 1700 cases since November.

RNZ reports in New Caledonia three people have died and a health emergency has been declared as more than 1-thousand cases have been recorded since September.