Angola reports first ever dengue epidemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) is reporting an epidemic of dengue fever in the south African nation of Angola, according to a Terra Daily report.
WHO country representative Hernando Agudelo Ospina said the outbreak hit the capital Luanda and surrounding areas.
“Since March, Angolan authorities have recorded 128 cases of dengue fever in Luanda province, the first time an epidemic of this disease has hit the country,” he said.
“The government has taken the necessary measures to stem the epidemic.”
According to a WHO report released in January, between 1955 and 1959, the number of countries reporting cases of dengue increased from three to eight; in 2012, the geographical distribution of dengue included more than 125 countries.
Dengue registered a 30-fold increase in disease incidence over the past 50 years.
The emergence and spread of the four dengue viral serotypes across WHO’s African, the Americas, South-East Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean regions represents a pandemic threat.
While the WHO has said they currently estimate there may be 50–100 million dengue infections worldwide every year, last month, researchers from the University of Oxford estimated there to be 390 million dengue infections per year worldwide.
For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
Looking for a job in health care? Check here to see what’s available
Chagas in Black and White: T-shirts, coffee mugs and other merchandise featuring the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi
Giardia in Black and White: T-shirts, coffee mugs and other merchandise with a clean, computerized image of a Giardia intestinalis trophozoite
Blood flukes in Black and White : T-shirts, coffee mugs and other merchandise with a clean, computerized image of the three schistosomes
[…] The report states, “12 probable cases of dengue had been reported, but only two were confirmed in patients who had arrived on the island from Angola.” […]
[…] numbers are up dramatically from mid-May when 128 cases of dengue were reported from […]
[…] recent reports of the first dengue fever outbreak on the west African coastal province of Luanda, Angola, health officials are now reporting another outbreak on the other side of the continent in Mombasa, […]
[…] recent reports of the first dengue fever outbreak on the west African coastal province of Luanda, Angola, health officials are now reporting another outbreak on the other side of the continent in Mombasa, […]
[…] Angola reports first ever dengue epidemic (theglobaldispatch.com) […]