MOMBASA, Kenya, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's health authorities are on high alert after an outbreak of dengue fever in the coastal city of Mombasa with 153 cases having been confirmed.
Acting Mombasa County Health Executive Binti Omara said on Sunday that 119 cases were diagnosed with the mosquito-borne tropical disease in private hospitals and 34 others in public health facilities in the county.
"A total of 119 cases were confirmed by Rapid Diagnostic Tests kits in the major private hospitals--Aga Khan, Mombasa Hospital, Al Farouk, Jocham and Seyyid Fatima," Omar said in an internal memo.
She said surveillance has been intensified in all areas after the outbreak was reported in Kisauni, Jomvu, Changamwe, Nyali, Mvita and Likoni sub-counties.
Mombasa County director of health Khadija Shikelly said Kisauni has the highest number of cases, 37, followed by Mvita, 25, Changamwe 21 and Likoni 21. She said there is no record of any death from the fever this year.
"This is to notify you that there is dengue fever outbreak in Mombasa County and we therefore need to respond effectively and in a coordinated approach to contain the outbreak," Shikelly said in Mombasa.
County health officials last week warned that the onset of the long rains could spur water and vector borne disease. Symptoms of the disease include severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pains, nausea, vomiting, swollen glands or rash.
Heavy rains in the region are said to have created new breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which are the vectors transmitting the disease to humans
Shikelly said dengue fever is transmitted by a mosquito and has no treatment or vaccination but can be controlled by spraying stagnant water and clearing bushes around homes.
Shikelly said hemorrhagic dengue fever is the severe type, which causes immediate death. Dengue fever was last reported in northern Kenya in 2011, in Mandera town, bordering Somalia and Ethiopia.
The disease, associated with large population movements, was at the time traced to African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops stationed in the war-torn country, and who frequented the Kenya border.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease, whose symptoms are similar to those of malaria, is now present in 125 countries and was in 2012 ranked as the world's fastest spreading vector-borne viral disease, with an estimated 6,000 deaths annually.
The UN health agency says there is no specific treatment for dengue but early detection and access to proper medical care lowers the risk.
