SHENZHEN had reported a total of 17 dengue fever cases by Sunday, an increase of 54.5 percent over the same period last year, the Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said at a press conference Tuesday.

The increase in cases has raised concern over an outbreak of diseases brought in by travelers from Southeast Asian countries such Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, which have entered the outbreak season.

The city’s CDC has set up 158 monitoring stations across the city to monitor the mosquito-borne disease and called for the public to eliminate stagnant water, especially during the rainy season, to help reduce the number of mosquitoes.

Researchers at the Guangdong CDC have developed an early-warning system to predict the risk of dengue fever infections, using real-time information such as seasonal climate forecasts, infection distribution and mosquito density to produce risk estimates up to two months in advance, according to Ma Wenjun, head of the institute of public health under the Guangdong CDC.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne, potentially fatal disease that mainly affects people in tropical and subtropical regions, causing fever, nausea, as well as aching muscles and joints.

Guangdong remains a major dengue epidemic area in China. Peak season for dengue falls between June and October.

(Han Ximin)