The woman was admitted to hospital on September 2 with fever and pain in the limbs. According to health officials, patient was examined twice to confirm whether she had dengue.

“It’s a rare case, though the infection is at its minor stage, because we’ve never had an elderly dengue fever patient, who was a proper Thimphu resident,” said Medical Specialist, Dr T B Rai.

Three patients with dengue died this year of the 12 cases the hospital treated, according to records from the in-patient department (IPD) at Thimphu hospital. “The eldest patient was 53 years old and the youngest a one-year-old male,” said the record section in-charge. “The 12 patients were residents of the eight southern dzongkhags.”

Phuentsholing alone has recorded 22 positive cases this year, compared with 10 last year.

The district malaria supervisor in Phuentsholing, Wangchuk, said patients had reported to the hospital with complaints of fever, body ache, rashes, vomiting and bleeding, all symptoms of the disease.

He added that a huge outbreak hit the southern region in 2004 with over 1,000 cases of mosquito related infections reported in Phuentsholing town, of which 116 patients had dengue.

A survey report of the health officials stated that most dengue mosquito and their larvae were found in household places, where water was stored for domestic use, around workshops with tyres lying around, bamboo stumps used in construction and in discarded containers like tins and coconut shells that held water.

“Unlike the nocturnal malaria transmitting mosquito, which breeds in dirty water, the dengue mosquito (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus) breeds in clean water and bites during the day,” said Wangchuk.

The symptoms of dengue are high fever, severe headache, body aches, especially back and joint pains, nausea and vomiting, eye pain, and rash. Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF), on the other hand, is characterised by fever that lasts from two to seven days. Skin rashes could appear between seven to 10 days.

Like most viral diseases, there is no specific medication for treatment of dengue, according to the medical officer in Phuentsholing, Dr Tashi. He said that patients are advised to take analgesics like paracetamol, drink plenty of fluids and go to the nearest health unit, according to the health officials.

To prevent dengue and its forms, health officials advise public to use insecticide treated bed nets, repellents, insecticide sprays, coils and vapourisers, screen windows and doors, wear full sleeved garments, reduce mosquito breeding sites by covering water buckets, pots and jars, and change water weekly by clearing the surroundings of discarded containers like tins and plastics.