Dengue Fever in Sri Lanka

WHO reported that between 1 January and 7 July 2017, there have been 80 732 dengue fever cases, including 215 deaths. This is 4.3 times higher than the average number of cases for the same period between 2010 and 2016, and the monthly number of cases exceeds the mean plus three standard deviations for each of the past six months. Based on sentinel site surveillance for the past seven years the expected peak months of May to July coincides with the south-western monsoon which commences in late April.

Approximately 43% of the dengue fever cases were reported from the Western Province and the most affected area with the highest number of reported cases is Colombo District (18 186) followed by Gampaha (12 121), Kurunegala (4889), Kalutara (4589), Batticaloa (3946), Ratnapura (3898), and Kandy (3853).

Advice for Travellers

All travellers to endemic regions are potentially at risk of dengue fever and should be aware of this infection. Prevention relies on avoiding mosquito bites.

Methods of mosquito bite avoidance include:

• Wearing long, loose, lightly coloured clothing to cover up the skin during the day.
• The use of insect repellent containing DEET applied to any exposed skin.
• When sunscreen and DEET are used together, DEET should be applied after sunscreen. The effectiveness of repellent reduces more rapidly than sunscreen, therefore, repellent may have to be reapplied on top of sunscreen.
• The use of permethrin, impregnated mosquito nets protects against early morning bites and should also be used when sleeping during the day.
• The use of air conditioning if available and/or mesh screening of windows and doors.
• Eradication of mosquito breeding sites around accommodation/home (e.g. open containers, old tyres or flower pots that may collect water).

For further information see Dengue Fever.