Pacific / Cook Islands

Dengue reaches Cook Islands' Pa Enua

18:45 pm on 8 August 2020

Cases of dengue fever have been confirmed on the Cook Islands' Pa Enua, or outer islands, despite the number of cases in the country declining.

Photo: SCIEPRO/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Only seven cases of the mosquito borne disease were reported in the Cooks in July, after a peak of 73 in March.

The Cook ISlands News reported that between February 2019 and July this year, a total of 369 cases were disagnosed in the country.

The majority of cases in that period were on the main island, Rarotonga, but seven were detected on Aitutaki and one on Pukapuka.

The Health Ministry, Te Marae Ora, said the infection was introduced to Pukapuka in May when 13 people arrived on the remote island.

It said there has since been periodic spraying of the house were the arrivals stayed.