Palau remains under Dengue Outbreak status since the declaration in December of 2018. Between 15-21 April there were 8 lab confirmed cases according to report from Ministry of Health, bringing a total of 164 cases since 1 December 2018.
Of these cases, 100 were identified as serotype-3 cases by the Hawaii State laboratory. No deaths have been reported as result of this outbreak.
In December of 2018, Ministry of Health alerted the public to the presence of the 2 identified serotype-3 dengue which were never before documented in Palau.
Public was specifically alerted to the dangers of serotype-3 and its possible effect on vulnerable members of the population as well as those who had previously contracted other types of dengue strains.
In December of 2017, a year before this recent outbreak, Palau cancelled another dengue outbreak in which 490 people contracted the disease and several people died.
Ministry of Health continues to urge the public to practice 3S of Dengue Prevention as this outbreak continues. (By L.N. Reklai)