Sailing North Queensland? Beware mosquito-borne dengue fever

by Sail-World Cruising round-up on 5 Feb 2014 Thinking of sailing North Queensland any time soon? You'll need to be aware of this. Health authorities in the tropical north are trying to contain an outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus of dengue fever. The message is: Just don't, under any circumstances, get bitten by a mosquito.'

Since late last year there have been two separate outbreaks, with 58 cases being registered in Cairns and 17 in Port Douglas.

Fourteen new cases have been reported in the past week.

Cairns Tropical Public Health Unit director Richard Gair says the outbreak is significant - but nowhere near as bad as an outbreak in 2009, when more than 1000 people were infected.

Symptons can be a sudden fever with severe headaches, muscle and joint pains and can lead to vomiting and diarrhoea or a rash.

Health authorities are trying to contain the outbreaks by spraying mosquitoes and removing mosquito breeding spots where outbreaks have occurred.

Between December 2012 and July 2013 about 184 cases were reported in the Cairns region.

Queensland Health recommends removing any areas of standing water where infected mosquitoes can lay eggs.