Dengue fever Outbreak a concern for Queensland Authorities

Health authorities say they are struggling to control an outbreak of dengue fever in north Queensland.

John Piispanen from the Tropical Public Health Unit says some residents are refusing to cooperate and clean up mosquito breeding sites.He says there is concern the problem could be widespread.”The outbreak in Cairns and Townsville was characterised by very mild symptoms so we’re missing cases of dengue in people who’ve obviously got symptoms so mild they don’t present and we’re missing the mosquitoes, so all that leads to a possibility of complacency,” he said.(Source: ABC Health News, Feb 2004)