Tonga dengue outbreak sees dozens of new cases Tuesday
Health officials in the Pacific Island of Tonga reported their largest one day increase in dengue fever cases Tuesday as 30 additional new cases were added to the outbreak, bringing the total to 129 as of Tuesday.
About half the outbreak total has been reported from Vava’u (63), while the remainder has been reported from Tongatapu (47) and ‘Eua (19).
A total of 10 cases are currently hospitalized (4 Prince Ngu, 4 Niu’eiki, 2 Vaiola), 1 still in ICU, the rest are stable.
No dengue-related death reported so far.
Dengue is a disease caused by a virus spread through mosquito bites. The disease can take up to 2 weeks to develop with illness generally lasting less than a week.
Symptoms from dengue include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, rash, muscle and joint pain, and minor bleeding.
Dengue can become severe within a few hours. Severe dengue is a medical emergency, usually requiring hospitalization.
In severe cases, health effects can include hemorrhage (uncontrolled bleeding), shock (seriously low blood pressure), organ failure, and death.