Dengue fever alarm in Asia Pacific
Updated
The World Health Organisation is warning of a spreading epidemic of dengue fever through the Asia-Pacific region.
The WHO will ask the 37 countries and territories that make up its Western Pacific section to endorse a regional strategy for dealing with the mosquito-borne virus, which it deems among 40 emerging diseases of global importance.
Between 2001 and 2004, 98 per cent of all dengue cases, and 99 per cent of all dengue deaths, in the region were accounted for in Asia by Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore and China.
In the Pacific by French Polynesia, Fiji, and New Caledonia.
The WHO says dengue has greatly expanded over the last three decades owing to changes in weather patterns that expanded the habitat of the Aedes aegypti mosquito which carries the virus.
It says human practices such as rainwater harvesting and inappropriate disposal of used tyres, plastic containers and metal cans have created new opportunities for breeding.
Other key factors are migration, demographic changes, and rapid growth in urban areas.
The WHO estimated nearly two billion people will be at risk from dengue fever unless governments do more to fight the debilitating disease.
