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Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals
CommentHong Kong
Robert Peckham
Ria Sinha
Robert PeckhamandRia Sinha

Opinion | Why dengue fever prevention calls for attention to the big picture, not just the pests in our own backyards

Robert Peckham and Ria Sinha say Hong Kong can draw on both its history of epidemics and the talent and technological expertise in the Pearl River Delta region to tackle mosquito-borne diseases

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A worker sprays insecticide to exterminate mosquitoes at the Lion Rock Park in Wong Tai Sin on August 18. A number of people suffering from dengue fever had visited the park. Photo: Dickson Lee
Robert PeckhamandRia Sinha

With 28 local cases of dengue fever confirmed in August, Hong Kong’s fevered history is rebounding in the present.

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According to the World Health Organisation, 40 per cent of the global population is at risk of dengue, with Asia at the epicentre. Last month’s outbreak in Hong Kong was the worst in recent times.

Despite the city’s much-vaunted epidemic surveillance system and a widely publicised anti-mosquito offensive, there is a public perception that health authorities have been caught off guard. For many, it appears to be a case of too little too late.

Could Hong Kong have been better prepared? The short answer is yes. There is always more to be done. Over the past two decades, data from the Centre for Health Protection has shown a marked increase in imported cases of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases, with a rise in locally acquired infections over the past five years.

An outbreak of over 40,000 cases of dengue in Guangdong in 2014 shows the potential for a major epidemic in Hong Kong. The territory is no stranger to mosquito-borne diseases. They wracked the early colony, which had a reputation as a “fatal island”. Malaria was endemic and dengue outbreaks occurred periodically, with the first recorded epidemic in 1872. Japanese encephalitis, chikungunya and Zika are contemporary threats.

Watch: Amid dengue fever outbreak, Hong Kong schools battle mosquitoes

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