First dengue Case recorded locally after 60 years

The Japanese authorities reported the first ever locally transmitted dengue fever case in the country after 60 years.

The health ministry said that the case occurred in Saitama, a region adjacent to Tokyo. The Local Japanese media reports said that the patient was a teen girl.

Yoshihide Suga the government spokesman, confirmed the report, said that the news was not cause for alarm because the illness is not pass on directly from one person to another person.

Japan sees dozens of dengue cases importedly each year, mostly tourists who have catch illness while traveling tropical regions. The disease, normally transmitted by mosquito, was common in Japan during WWI (World War II) but was locally wipe out for decades.

Symptoms of dengue include severe joint pain, headaches and fever.

Dengue has been spreading in recent years, with 100 million dengue infections in a year in more than 100 countries. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), before 1970 only nine countries had experienced dengue epidemics. Japan has reported 249 dengue cases last year.