Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection of the Department of Health confirmed by laboratory test Saturday an imported case of dengue fever, raising the city's number of dengue fevers this year to 39.

The new case involved a 29-year-old woman living in Tai Po in the New Territories but her names and further details were not disclosed by the health authority.

The woman developed fever and headache on Aug. 16 and was admitted to Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital on Aug. 21. She had recovered and was discharged on Aug. 27 and her home contacts did not have any symptom of dengue fever.

Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever are acute febrile diseases and might be deadly sometimes. Found in the tropics the diseases are usually transmitted to humans by mosquito.

The health protection center's investigations revealed that the woman had traveled to Thailand with her mother from Aug. 4 to 16.

 A total of 39 cases of dengue fever, all classified as imported cases, have been reported so far in Hong Kong this year, compared with 31 cases in 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2007)