New Caledonia on Alert Over Dengue Epidemic

[sharon sanders]

PACIFIC<big> </big>ISLANDS<big> </big>REPORT
Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai?i
<hr>

NEW CALEDONIA ON ALERT OVER DENGUE EPIDEMIC

Health officials report 48 cases this month​

By Patrick Antoine Decloitre

​

SUVA, Fiji (Oceania Flash, Feb. 27, 2008) ? Health authorities in New Caledonia have at the weekend stepped up the status of what was formerly a "pre-epidemic" situation to a fully fledged "epidemic" with regards to the dengue, mosquito-borne, hemorrhagic fever.
​

Latest counts from the local health department are placing the number of known cases to 72 since the beginning of this year.

​

This includes 48 new cases since the beginning of February.​

The main hotspots are the capital Noum?a and its greater area, as well as another reported bed in the North-eastern island of Lifou (part of the Loyalty group).​

New Caledonia's health director, Dr Jean-Paul Grangeon, told local media the situation had now entered a "worrying" stage due to the exponential increase in the number of new cases.​

The alarm comes as New Caledonia and its greater region

are facing severe weather conditions characterised by high humidity and heavy rains, which are triggering factors for mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever, malaria, typhoid, dysentery or leptospirosis.
​

New Caledonia's health and prevention department has for the past few weeks stepped up its prevention and awareness campaign against the potentially deadly virus, mainly because of the heavy rains and the hot and humid conditions currently affecting New Caledonia.​

As part of the prevention campaign, Noum?a's health and hygiene services have also deployed since the beginning of this month a team of a dozen of officers, whose main task is to visit house and property owners and convince them to clean any potential mosquito breeding site such as still water contained in old tyres and plant pots or any bushy area on their compound that could also become a nest for mosquito larvae.​

In French Polynesia, health authorities are also closely monitoring development of the dengue front.​

Since the beginning of the year, ore than a dozen persons were also reported infected.​

Efforts are also underway in Wallis and Futuna, the third French Pacific territory, to closely monitor movements of persons to and from neighbouring New Caledonia, where over 20,000 residents of Wallis and Futuna origin are permanently established.​

Locally, information awareness campaigns have also been stepped up.



http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2008/February/02-28-09.htm

​

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: New Caledonia on Alert Over Dengue Epidemic

Over 100 Cases In New Caledonia Dengue Fever EpidemicThe dengue fever epidemic which was declared last month in New Caledonia has now affected some 104 persons since the beginning of this year, according to latest counts at the weekend.

Most of the known cases are concentrated in the capital Nouméa and its greater area, as well as other reported hotbeds in the North-eastern island of Lifou (part of the Loyalty group) and on the Isle of Pines (South of the capital Nouméa), local media report.

Bank of Hawaii Small Business Resource
Health authorities in New Caledonia have last week stepped up the status of what was formerly a "pre-epidemic" situation to a fully fledged "epidemic" with regards to the dengue, mosquito-borne, hemorrhagic fever.

Last week, as the number of known cases was only 72, New Caledonia's health director, Dr Jean-Paul Grangeon, was already considering the situation "worrying", mainly because of the apparently exponential increase rate in the number of new cases.

The alarm comes as New Caledonia and its greater region are facing severe weather conditions characterised by high humidity and heavy rains, which are triggering factors for mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria.

The same humid weather conditions which entail the persistence of still water spots are also triggering factors for typhoid (currently affecting Fiji), dysentery or leptospirosis.
New Caledonia's health and prevention department has for the past few weeks stepped up its prevention and awareness campaign against the potentially deadly virus, mainly because of the heavy rains and the hot and humid conditions currently affecting New Caledonia.

As part of the prevention campaign, Nouméa's health and hygiene services have also deployed since the beginning of this month a team of a dozen of officers, whose main task is to visit house and property owners and convince them to clean any potential mosquito breeding site such as still water contained in old tyres and plant pots or any bushy area on their compound that could also become a nest for mosquito larvae.

An earlier dengue fever epidemic, in 2003, killed as many as 20 persons in New Caledonia.

In French Polynesia, health authorities are also closely monitoring development of the dengue front.

Since the beginning of the year, ore than a dozen persons were also reported infected.
Efforts are also underway in Wallis and Futuna, the third French Pacific territory, to closely monitor movements of persons to and from neighbouring New Caledonia, where over 20,000 residents of Wallis and Futuna origin are permanently established.

Locally, information awareness campaigns have also been stepped up.

Dengue is transmitted by the striped Aedes Aegypti species of mosquito, which is particularly active and bites at dusk.

In the early stages, dengue provokes joint and back pains, fever and general state of fatigue that can be easily mistaken for influenza and can be fatal.
One of the strongest medical advices provided in the face of a case of dengue is not to take any painkiller from the aspirin family (because of its anticoagulant properties), but instead turn to those containing paracetamol.

http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news...cases-in-new-caledonia-dengue-fever-epidemic-