Update | Southern Taiwan hit by dengue fever outbreak with 2,000 infections reported
The authorities in Taiwan are struggling to cope with an outbreak of dengue fever in the south of the island, according to a newspaper report.
More than 100 new cases of dengue fever have been reported everyday in the city of Tainan since Monday last week, the United Daily News said.
The outbreak has killed four people in the city, all elderly in their 70s who had chronic disease, Central News Agency reported on Tuesday, citing the city government.
Dengue fever is spread by mosquito bites and early diagnosis markedly lowers the risk of serious illness, according to the World Health Organisation.
A market and flower market have been shut down in Tainan to reduce the spread of the disease, the report said.
Neighbouring Kaohsiung also closed down a park over the weekend to limit exposure to mosquitoes.
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An expert on mosquito-linked infectious diseases, Professor Chen Chin-Seng was quoted as saying that insufficient spraying of pesticides had contributed to the outbreak.
About 2,000 cases of dengue fever have been reported in Tainan.
The local health authorities said the northern district of the city was worst affected with at least 892 cases reported.
More than 60 cases were linked to the Ximending market, the report said.
Markets are to be sprayed with pesticides to help contain the outbreak.
A 47-year-old man living near the Ximending market told the South China Morning Post that local people were not overly worried about the outbreak.
"We just stick to our tasks by cleaning up the environment and any standing water where the city government will do the disinfecting work. There’s no need to panic over this," he said.
An agent at the Guangzhou branch of the Hong Thai Travel Agency said tours to southern Taiwan, including Tainan, were continuing as normal.
Tainan environmental protection bureau officials were quoted as saying that the key to eliminating dengue fever was cooperation from residents in the area.
Failure to remove standing water where mosquitoes breed, or other threats that could aid the spread of dengue fever, could lead to fines of NT$60,000 (HK$14,000).
Hong Kong reported its first case of dengue fever in June when a 58-year-old man was diagnosed.
Dengue fever infections recorded an all-time high last year in Guangdong province in southern China where at least 21,000 people caught the illness and six died.
More than 1,000 new cases of infection were reported on a daily basis in the province around October last year. Of the 21,000 cases, 18,192 cases were reported in Guangzhou.
The Asian tiger mosquito has been blamed for spreading dengue fever and Japanese B encephalitis.
The outbreak eased up this year after the Guangdong authorities released infertile males of the species to drastically reduce the mosquito population.
