The Macao Health Services has begun to take communicable disease control measures against Norovirus and Dengue fever after confirming several infection cases.

At least seven children between the ages of three months and one year enrolled in the St. Joao Day Care Center have fallen ill with vomiting and diarrhea over the past week. Four of the children have been diagnosed positive of Norovirus, which is highly communicable and can be dangerous.

Thursday's Macao Post reported that none of the sick children has become ill enough to require hospitalization.

As soon as the health authorities found the first symptoms on November 5, the day care center was told to suspend operation, and parents of the children instructed to keep at home. The center was requested to thoroughly disinfect.

Meanwhile, a woman aged 51 was found to contract Dengue fever this month, which was the second of such cases confirmed this year in Macao. The first Dengue fever case was found in September.

The health authorities have ordered mosquito abatement measures in an area of 200 square meters of the hospitalized woman's home.

The Health Services predicted in April that the Dengue fever would probably re-emerge this year, as it has a pattern of breaking out every three to four years.

The Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government launched an anti-dengue fever campaign from April to mid-June waging a publicity drive to help citizens better understand self-prevention measures against the disease, while disinfecting empty houses, dirty corners and trash.
 
(Xinhua News Agency November 12, 2004)