DENGUE FEVER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 204, 29 August 1928, Page 7

DENGUE FEVER.

EPIDEMIC IN ATHENS. 200,000 Victims Cause Business Standstill. OLD DRAINS BLAMED. ("Times" Cables.) LONDON, August 28. The Athens correspondent of the "Times" reports that the construction of a tunnel in connection with the electrification of a railway exposed some old drains which are now blamed for the dengue fever epidemic, which has assumed alarming proportions. The death rate in Athens and Piraeus has been doubled. It is estimated that there are from 100,000 to 200,000 cases. Business is paralysed in both cities. Many offices and factories are closed and at a leading bank there are only 20 out of 180 employees working. The Government railways, trams, and postal services are completely disorganised. There are reports of a shortage of drugs. The consumption of bread has fallen from 225 to 75 tons a day. Athens is deserted at sunset. The League of Nations has notified the Greek authorities of the dispatch of Dr. Mackenzie, an expert in tropical diseases, to study the situation. The disease prevalent usually lasts from six to ten days. It is not in its most fatal form. It is now spreading to the provinces, where it is being carried by people who are migrating from the cities to avoid contagion. Dengue fever is an epidcmic or a contagions disease usually occurring in India, Africa, and tropical America. The onset is sudden, and the fever is characterised by an eruption, resembling that of soarlatina, and severe pains in the joints. Dengue, like malaria, may be mosquito borne.