Beijing has detected the first dengue fever case of the year,
the city's health authorities confirmed on Thursday.
The patient and his family are still under medical observation,
said a spokesman of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau.
The 47-year-old man from Chaoyang District, in the city's east,
fell sick on April 28, shortly after he returned from a trip to
Malaysia, the spokesman said without giving the man's name.
The Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital in Beijing diagnosed
dengue fever, a potentially fatal, mosquito-borne disease, on May
8, and all close family members have since been under medical
observation.
The spokesman said all the dengue fever cases detected in
Beijing so far contracted abroad.
The city confirmed two dengue fever cases last September and the
patients had been diagnosed after returning home from the
Philippines and India.
The Ministry of Health said 1,019 dengue cases were reported in
south China's Guangdong Province last year, but did not say
if anyone died.
Dengue causes severe fever and can lead to nausea and rashes. It
can cause severe pain in the joints and some strains cause internal
bleeding and death.
The disease kills 25,000 people and infects more than 100
million each year in tropical and subtropical regions of the world,
according to the Health Ministry.
(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2007)