Pacific Islands

00000000 The past 10 to 15 years have witnessed the introduction and dissemination of all four dengue serotypes in the Pacific Islands. DEN-2 virus was introduced into the south Pacific in 1971 and DEN-1 in 1974. The introduction of DEN-1 was followed by major outbreaks of dengue in the Pacific Islands during 1974 - 75. The outbreak started in the Marshall Islands in early 1974, was in Nauru by mid-1974 and later that year in Kiribati and Tuvalu Islands. By January 1975 the epidemic had spread to Vanuatu and Fiji and by mid-1975 to Tonga, French Polynesia and both Western and American Samoa (Table 7). Dengue-4 (DEN-4) virus was introduced into Tahiti in 1979 and caused a major outbreak in the South Pacific. The island of Niue, which has a population of 3000, reported 616 cases of DF/DHF with four deaths. Other South Pacific Islands were also affected (Table 7). In 1982 a DF epidemic occurred on the Solomon Islands with 1800 reported cases; DEN-3 virus was isolated and the vector responsible was found to be A. albopictus(12).

China

00000000Dengue fever was first reported in China in the 1940's during World War II when epidemics occurred in Central and Southern China. For unknown reasons the disease disappeared for 30 years and reappeared in 1978 - 1979 in the Fosha District of Guangdong Province, Southern China. In this DF/DHF outbreak caused by DEN-4 virus, a total of 22 122 cases were reported with 14 deaths(19). The majority of cases observed were mild cases of dengue fever with a few presenting with mild haemorrhagic phenomena. No genuine dengue haemorrhagic fever of shock syndrome was documented(20). In the spring and summer of 1980, another epidemic of dengue fever caused by DEN-3 occurred in Guangxi Province and Hainan Island, also in Southern China. Another major epidemic seems to have occurred in China in 1983 with 85 293 cases and a reported 3032 deaths(21). However, little information is available on this outbreak.

00000000During the 1978 - 1980 period three serotypes were responsible for disease activity: DEN-4 in 1978. DEN-1 in 1979 and DEN-3 in 1980(20). Den-4 and DEN-1 were transmitted mainly by A. albopictus and were restricted largely to coastal countries near Hongkong. DEN-3, however, spread to a wider area including Hainan Island and the coastal regions of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, and was mainly transmitted by A. aegypti(20).