Jeffrey N Hanna, Scott A Ritchie

The (recognised) outbreaks of dengue that have occurred in north Queensland from 1990 to 2008 (inclusive) are summarised in the following Table.

Year(s)	Location	Reported cases	Suburbs / islands predominantly affected	Duration of outbreak	Serotype
1990–91	Cairns, Townsville, Torres Strait	27		8 weeks	Dengue 1
1992–931,2	Townsville, Charters Towers	900		64 weeks	Dengue 2
19953	Cairns	4	Manunda	14 weeks	Dengue 2
1996–974	Torres Strait, Cairns	208	Mer, Erub, Masig, Iama, Thursday Island, Westcourt	28 weeks	Dengue 2
1997–98	Cairns	12	Whitfield	11 weeks	Dengue 2
1997–995	Cairns, Mossman, Port Douglas	498	Cairns North, Parramatta Park, Stratford, Machans Beach, Holloways Beach, Bungalow	70 weeks	Dengue 3
20006	Cairns	49	Machans Beach	6 weeks	Dengue 2
20017	Townsville	9	Mysterton, North Ward	3 weeks	Dengue 2
20028	Kuranda	21		10 weeks	Dengue 2
20028	Townsville	2	Railway Estate	2 weeks	Dengue 1
20028	Cairns	2	Smithfield	3 weeks	Dengue 4
2003	Cairns	3	Parramatta Park	2 weeks	Dengue 1
20039	Mareeba	1		1 week	Dengue 1
200310	Cairns	5	Manunda	3 weeks	Dengue 2
2003–0410	Cairns, Townsville, (Torres Strait)	536	Parramatta Park, Bungalow, Stratford, Aeroglen, Edge Hill, Whitfield, Townsville CBD, Cranbrook, Currajong, North Ward, Thursday Island	69 weeks	Dengue 2
2003–0410,11	Torres Strait, Cairns	356	Iama, Thursday Island, Mer	41 weeks	Dengue 2
2004	Torres Strait	1	Masig	1 week	Dengue 2
2005	Torres Strait	56	Mer, Thursday Island, Erub	7 weeks	Dengue 4
2005	Townsville	18	Currajong	22 weeks	Dengue 4
2005–06	Townsville	8	Cranbrook	6 weeks	Dengue 3
2006	Cairns	29	Gordonvale, Manunda	18 weeks	Dengue 2
2007	Townsville	46	South Townsville, West End	12 weeks	Dengue 3
2008	Port Douglas/ Mossman	22		10 weeks	Dengue 3
2008	Cairns	1	Manoora?	1 week	Dengue 2
2008	Cairns, Townsville	99 (with onset in 2008)	Cairns North, Clifton Beach, Whitfield, Parramatta Park, Edge Hill, Belgian Gardens (with more suburbs in 2009)	8 weeks in 2008 – ongoing into 2009	Dengue 3
2008	Townsville	5 (with onset in 2008)	North Ward, City	2 weeks in 2008 – ongoing into 2009	Dengue 1

It is obvious that outbreaks of dengue have become more frequent in north Queensland in recent years. This is a reflection upon the deteriorating dengue situation in the Asia–Pacific region and elsewhere,¹² as every outbreak in north Queensland is initiated by a viraemic traveller to the region.

However, increased surveillance for dengue in north Queensland and the use of very powerful molecular techniques that are able to discern significant differences between isolates of dengue viruses belonging to the same serotype¹⁰ have also contributed to this increase, particularly in more recent years. It is quite possible that some small outbreaks, or outbreaks caused by (unrecognised) differing genotypes of the same serotypes of dengue viruses, were not detected, and therefore the Table may under-enumerate the actual number of outbreaks that occurred in north Queensland over the 18 years.

A detailed review of the recognised outbreaks that occurred in 2005–2008 (inclusive) is in preparation.

Top of page

Author details

Jeffrey N Hanna, Public Health Physician

Scott A Ritchie, Medical Entomologist

Tropical Population Health Services, Queensland Health, Cairns, Queensland

Correspondence: Dr J Hanna, Tropical Population Health Services, PO Box 1103, CAIRNS QLD 4870. Telephone: +61 7 4050 3604. Facsimile: +61 7 4031 1440. Email: Jeffrey_hanna AT health.qld.gov.au

Top of page

References

1. Streatfield R, Sinclair D, Bielby G, Sheridan J, Pearce M, Phillips D. Dengue serotype 2 epidemic, Townsville, 1992–93. Commun Dis Intell 1993;17:330–332.

2. McBride WJH, Mullner H, LaBrooy JT, Wronski I. The 1993 dengue 2 epidemic in Charters Towers, North Queensland: clinical features and public health impact. Epidemiol Infect 1998;121:151–156.

3. Ritchie S, Hanna J, van den Hurk A, Harley D, Lawrence R, Phillips D. Importation and subsequent local transmission of dengue 2 in Cairns. Commun Dis Intell 1995;19:366–370.

4. Hanna JN, Ritchie SA, Merritt AD, van den Hurk AF, Phillips DA, Serafin IL, et al. Two contiguous outbreaks of dengue type 2 in north Queensland. Med J Aust 1998;168:221–225.

5. Hanna JN, Ritchie SA, Phillips DA, Serafin IL, Hills SL, van den Hurk AF, et al. An epidemic of dengue 3 in far north Queensland, 1997–1999. Med J Aust 2001;174:178–182.

6. Ritchie SA, Hart A, Long S, Montgomery B, Walsh I, Foley P. Update on dengue in north Queensland. Arbovirus Res Aust 2001;8:294–300.

7. Hills SL, Piispanen JP, Humphreys JL, Foley PN. A focal, rapidly-controlled outbreak of dengue fever in two suburbs in Townsville, North Queensland, 2001. Commun Dis Intell 2002;26:596–600.

8. Hanna JN, Ritchie SA, Hills SL, Pyke AT, Montgomery BL, Richards AR, Piispanen JP. Dengue in north Queensland, 2002. Commun Dis Intell 2003;27:384–389.

9. Dengue in north Queensland, 2003: an update. Tropical Public Health Unit Communicable Disease Control Newsletter 2003;(43):1–2.

10. Hanna JN, Ritchie SA, Richards AR, Taylor CT, Pyke AT, Montgomery BL, et al. Multiple outbreaks of dengue serotype 2 in north Queensland, 2003/04. Aust N Z J Public Health 2006;30:220–225.

11. McBride WJH. Deaths associated with dengue haemorrhagic fever: the first in Australia in over a century. Med J Aust 2005;183:35–37.

12. Gubler DJ. Epidemic dengue/dengue hemorrhagic fever as a public health, social and economic problem in the 21st century. Trends Microbiol 2002;10:100–103.