Local Dengue fever infection ruled out

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Sun, October 1, 2023 | 13:43

Local Dengue fever infection ruled out

Posted : 2011-11-09 19:08

Updated : 2011-11-09 19:08

By Kim Tae-jong

The health authorities Wednesday tentatively concluded a patient with Dengue fever had been infected by the tropical disease during her trip to Indonesia.

The announcement came as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) conducted an investigation into a Dengue fever outbreak in South Gyeongsang Province last July to verify whether the patient was infected locally.

“We launched an investigation because she was diagnosed with the disease 39 days after the return from her trip to Indonesia,” an official from the CDCP said. “It’s very rare as the maximum incubation period of the disease is 14 days.”

Returning the trip to Indonesia with her husband from April 24 to May 1, she visited a local hospital on June 9 with typical symptoms of the disease such as fever, headache, muscle and joint pains and a characteristic skin rash. She was later diagnosed with Dengue fever.

As dengue virus is transmitted by mosquito, the CDCP performed an epidemiologic investigation and checked traces of mosquitoes within a 2 kilometer radius in the patient’s neighborhood.

“As we failed to find mosquitoes in her neighborhood and there have been no more patients with the disease, we think there is little chance that the disease was transmitted by mosquitoes here,” the official said.

There have been no patients who are infected with the disease transmitted by mosquitoes in Korea.