An 87-year-old man in the southern city of Tainan has died of dengue fever. This is the second fatal case recorded in Tainan and Taiwan this year.
According to the Tainan Department of Health on Tuesday, since the start of the year, nearly 1,000 cases of dengue fever have been confirmed in Tainan. The disease has also spread throughout 23 of the city’s 37 districts. Last week, the first dengue fever death of the year was recorded. The patient was a 73-year-old man in Tainan.
The department said the mosquito-borne disease has been spreading rapidly in Tainan this year, spiking from 330 cases as of Aug. 3 to 993 at present. Most of the cases recorded nationwide over the past few weeks have been in Tainan.
Dengue fever is an infectious tropical disease with symptoms that include fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, and skin rash. In a small proportion of cases, the disease can develop into hemorrhagic dengue fever, which can be fatal.