French Pacific territory has tallied 8,674 cases in past year
SUVA, Fiji (Oceania Flash, July 2, 2009) – The mosquito-transmitted hemorrhagic dengue fever has claimed a fourth victim this week, health authorities announced on Wednesday.
The latest fatality for this year is reported to be a 41-year-old man who was believed not to be suffering any particular syndrome before death struck.
New Caledonia’s health and social affairs department’s latest update as at July 1 says in terms of dengue fever, the epidemic that has gripped the French Pacific territory since September last year has produced a total of 8,674 cases of infection, mostly of the serotype 4.
Since January 1, 2009, the cumulated figure stands at 8,485 cases.
The trend of the epidemic, however, has significantly slowed down since last month and a significant cooling of temperatures and humidity (the main factors for mosquito proliferation): the number of cases peaked at 3,412 cases in...