Japanese health officials said Thursday that three young people have contracted dengue fever, the first such infections in the country in nearly 70 years.
The three are suspected of having contracted the disease when they were bitten by mosquitoes in Yoyogi Park in central Tokyo, officials said.The patients - a man in his 20s in Tokyo as well as a teen and woman in her 20s in Saitama Prefecture north of the capital - go to the same educational institution in Tokyo.
None of them is in a life-threatening condition, officials said.
The last domestic infection of dengue fever was in 1945, although there are around 200 cases annually among those who have traveled abroad, mainly in Southeast Asia.
Dengue fever is not transmitted directly from person-to-person and symptoms range from mild fever to incapacitating high temperatures, according to the World Health Organization.
There is no vaccine or any specific medicine to treat dengue and patients should rest, drink plenty of fluids and reduce the fever using paracetamol or see a doctor, it says.
By Ruchi Singh
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
