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Josephine Ma

The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has seen a 73 per cent spike in Dengue fever cases in the space of a week.
Last week it recorded 437 cases, of which 360 were local and the rest imported. It also saw the first severe cases, three in total, in several months. The previous week saw 252 cases, according to the local centre for disease control and prevention.
The Guangdong provincial disease control authorities have been closely watching the rise in cases of the mosquito-borne disease over the past two months.
In August the province’s disease control centre called for a state of high alert in its monthly report on infectious diseases because of the global rise in cases this year.
Since then there has been a steady rise in cases across Guangdong, with more in a single week – 1,770 between September 30 and October 6 – than the whole month of August, which saw 1,220 cases.
No deaths have been reported in Guangdong this year though the disease can be fatal.
Fatal cases of Dengue fever are rare in China, given the relatively good healthcare infrastructure, with the last death recorded in September last year.
Guangdong latest “mosquito map” – which tracks the main danger areas as part of its strategy to monitor the risk from Dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases – shows that by mid-September there were 10 spots with a high-density of the insects in Guangzhou, as well as four in Zhuhai and two in Shenzhen.
Since the beginning of 2024, over 13 million cases and more than 8,500 dengue-related deaths have been reported globally, according to the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control.
The World Health Organization has warned that Dengue cases have roughly doubled each year since 2021 and in December last year it raised its emergency response level to Grade 3, its highest level.
It said factors such as unplanned urbanisation, poor sanitation and hygiene practices, climate change and international travel are helping it spread rapidly around the world.
The global health body also warned that other factors such as climate change and periodic weather phenomena such as El Nino and La Nina – which can cause heavy rainfall and higher temperatures – are helping it spread rapidly around the world.
Chinese customs have also issued a notice, effective from October 9, ordering better cleaning of imported goods and containers, port areas and surveillance of travellers showing symptoms of Dengue fever.
Symptoms of the illness include fever, severe headaches, muscle and joint pain, vomiting, swollen lymph nodes and rashes.
While human-to human transmission is not possible, humans can pass it on to mosquitos which will then go on to infect more people.


Professor Emily Chan Ying-yang, assistant dean of the faculty of medicine of Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: “When a mosquito bites a person who carries Dengue fever, the mosquito will then become a vector for the rest of its life of 60 days and may spread the disease to other people when it bites someone else.”
She said the city should step up its mosquito controls and warned that residents crossing the border to visit Guangdong should take precautions to protect themselves.
The city’s health authorities have recorded 85 cases this year as of October 9 – more than the 62 recorded for the whole of 2023. The recent cases included eight imported cases between October 4 and 9 – all from people who have been to Guangdong recently.


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China’s Guangzhou city sees Dengue fever cases rise by 73% in space of a week

Guangzhou recorded 437 cases last week, three of them serious. Photo: Simon Song

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China

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The city is at the centre of a spike in cases across Guangdong province as WHO warns mosquito-borne disease is spreading rapidly


The city is at the centre of a spike in cases across Guangdong province as WHO warns mosquito-borne disease is spreading rapidly.
