Guangdong health authorities said the dengue outbreak centred in Guangzhou, one of the worst in 20 years, would be under control in two to three weeks with stronger eradication measures. The number of dengue fever cases in Guangdong continues rising sharply, with 899 cases reported on Tuesday alone, the commission said. Guangzhou is still the worst-hit by the virus at 6,361 cases, including two deaths, so far this year, the provincial health and family planning commission announced on Thursday. In a special meeting with officials from Guangdong, Guangzhou and Foshan on Tuesday, provincial Communist Party secretary Hu Chunhua ordered local governments to spare no effort to combat the disease's spread. The provincial health commission said yesterday that 9,161 cases of dengue in 19 Guangdong cities had been reported this year – 14.4 times more than the same period last year, with 85 per cent occurring in the capital. Most of the cases were local and only 32 are imported, the commission said. One more patient, from Foshan, died, taking the total death toll this year to three. Foshan city reported 950 cases, while 141 cases were confirmed in Zhongshan. Other cases were found in the cities like Jiangmen, Zhuhai, Dongguan and Shenzhen. "It is still rising, with additional cases added by the hundreds every day. The key is to kill more mosquitoes," said Yang Zhicong , spokesman with the Guangzhou Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. "We are confident we can contain the epidemic in two to three weeks. Authorities have prioritised anti-dengue measures," he said. Hu ordered the stepped-up measures ahead of the National Day holiday, one of the busiest travelling periods of the year for mainlanders, Nanfang Daily reported. Yang attributed the outbreak to imported cases and persistent rainfall, but some members of the public were also failing to cooperate with eradication efforts such as draining standing pools of water. "Many people refused to let officials in their house to clean pooled water or measure mosquito density," Yang said. According to the Guangzhou Daily , mosquitoes from 70 per cent, or 133 of the total 210 sampling stations across the city, had populations of up to 12 times more than the acceptable standard. The report said there would be two or three city-wide campaigns to limit mosquitoes by this month in Guangzhou, especially cleaning up stagnant water in which the insects breed. Mosquitoes spread a range of parasitic, viral and bacterial diseases dangerous to human health. Dengue, which has a relatively low mortality rate, is linked to greater urbanisation. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pain and skin rashes. A very small number of cases lead to life-threatening dengue haemorrhagic fever. According to Xinhua, another 16 dengue cases have also been reported in east China’s Jianou city of Fujian province as of Saturday, local authorities confirmed.
