Sri Lanka's latest export to Hong Kong – deadly dengue, duty free

For the seven days to the past Thursday, Hong Kong has recorded five confirmed dengue fever cases and the patients had been to Sri Lanka – two of the cases are epidemiologically linked. The largest number of reported cases, or 13, was imported from Thailand.

Sri Lanka, which has been unable to collar the runaway dengue epidemic, is even exporting infected people to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has remained free from the killer mosquito- borne virus because of a highly systematic, efficient and effective monitoring system by public health authorities.

Among the 41 cases reported to Hong Kong's health authorities in the past five months, infections exported from Sri Lanka account for the second largest number.

The Center for Health Protection of Hong Kong's Department of Health reported on Friday that seven cases have been imported to the city from Sri Lanka. The centre did not identify the patients' nationalities.

For the seven days to the past Thursday, Hong Kong has recorded five confirmed dengue fever cases and the patients had been to Sri Lanka – two of the cases are epidemiologically linked. Epidemiologically linked cases are those in which the patient has had contact with one or more people who been infected with the dengue virus.

The largest number of reported cases, or 13, was imported from Thailand.

Five cases each were imported from Indonesia and the Philippines.

No dengue cases have been reported in Hong Kong.

Sri Lanka's Health Ministry and its Epidemiology Unit have been struggling with the deadly virus for years, randomly spraying insecticide and knee- jerk reaction checking of back- yards. There is also a National Dengue Control Unit.

Whole families in Sri Lanka have been affected amidst soaring numbers of deaths. Ill-equipped public hospitals, where stray dogs are seen in corridors, are overwhelmed. In the six months to June 63,987 people, or an average 12,797 every month, have been infected.

The total infections so far this year exceeds the 55,150 cases in the whole of last year.

For more than a decade, Hong Kong public health authorities have been monitoring the aedes albopictus mosquito, one of the dengue carriers, through simple ovitraps. This is one of many measures to track infestation. Even the Hong Kong International Airport is monitored. That began in 1998, when it opened. Ports are monitored.

Advice on dengue is also available in Sinhala in Hong Kong.