Cases of dengue fever and typhoid continue to increase in the Western Division.
Fiji’s Ministry of Health permanent secretary Dr James Fong said there was an upward trend above the outbreak alert threshold for the two illnesses noted in the region.
He said for dengue fever, there had been 471 cases, with 43 new cases reported since the last update, including 37 new cases in the past week in the West.
Dr Fong added typhoid was also increasing.
“There have been 93 lab-confirmed cases of typhoid fever this year with 10 new cases in the last week,” he said.
“For the Central, Northern, and Eastern divisions, typhoid cases are below the average, or at the average numbers expected for this time of the year.
“However, case numbers remain above the outbreak threshold in the Western Division, where there have been 55 cases so far this year.
“The case numbers in the West have been driven this year by localised outbreaks in communities in Ra, Lautoka, Sigatoka and Nadi.”
The ministry recorded five deaths from typhoid so far.
