Updated: Dengue fever toll rises in Japan; Yoyogi Park Is The Epicenter & Now Closed

Update: September 4th 2014 

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government closed  of Yoyogi Park today (September 4th) after confirming that mosquitoes taken for sampling earlier  this week were carrying the dengue virus.

As previously reported, Japan faced its first dengue outbreak caused by domestic mosquitos in over 70 years. A teenage female and two of her classmates, all of whom had never traveled outside of Japan, contracted the disease while they were practicing a dance routine in Yoyogi Park. The park was closed off last Thursday so that the park could be sprayed with insecticides, leading to a surge in shares for insecticide makers in the stock market.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare along with the Japanese media are now reporting more confirmed victims of the recent dengue outbreak who were bitten by mosquitos in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park. Public broadcaster NHK reported that three more people have fallen ill, one from Nigata Prefecture who visited Yoyogi Park on a school trip and two more from Kanagawa Prefecture. The Mainichi Shimbun also reports that more than ten other people who had visited Yoyogi Park last month have also fallen ill due to being bitten by mosquitos that carry the dengue virus.  The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is expected to post the most recent test results on their web page  tonight or tomorrow.

For our previous article on this topic, please check here.