Germany reports first dengue fever case imported from Japan
In an exclusive, first-hand report to ProMED-mail on Jan. 9, infectious disease experts from Hamburg, Germany are reporting a laboratory-confirmed case of dengue fever in traveler who returned from Honshu, Japan this past September.
The patient, a previously healthy 51-year-old woman sought treatment in a hospital in Berlin on 9 Sep 2013 after returning from a two week trip to Japan (19-31 Aug 2013).
She presented with symptoms of fever, nausea and later a maculopapular rash in early September. She claimed of being bit by mosquitoes while grape picking in Fuefuki. She was only in Japan and did not travel to any dengue endemic countries.
She tested positive for dengue serologies (see details in link above).
Experts believe based on her activities and the timing of the virus incubation, she contracted the infection in Japan.
This is the 1st laboratory confirmed case of dengue virus infection imported from Japan to Germany, experts report.
A expert moderator with ProMED states, “This case is, indeed, highly unusual because it implicates a dengue virus infection acquired locally in Japan, and indicates that there must have been other infected individuals in the area where she became infected. This is the 1st case of locally acquired dengue virus infection in Japan that ProMED-mail has ever posted.”
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