DENGUE FEVER.

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17493, 29 August 1928, Page 8

DENGUE FEVER.

BUSINESS PARALYSED. DEATH RATE DOUBLED. SPREADING TO THE PROVINCES. (By Telegraph—Press ,\ssn.—Copyright.) (Times Cable.) LONDON, August 29. • 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 epidemic, which has assumed alarming proportions. The death rate in Athens and Piraeus has been doubled. It is estimated that there are from 160,000 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 despatch 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 is an infectious fever, nearly always epidemic, occurring in warm climates. It seems to be endemic !o some localities, it is fatal only in cases of existing weakness of the victim. The symptoms arc a sudden attack of fever, accompanied by rheumatic pains in the joints and muscles, with severe headache and a bad rash, A crisis is reached after a few days, followed after an interval of two or three more days by a return of fever and pain accompanied by an eruption resembling measles. The eruption is the most marked characteristic of the disease.