A worsening outbreak of dengue fever in Japan has claimed its first celebrities – two young models sent on assignment to the Tokyo park believed to be its source.
The details emerged as the government said on Tuesday that at least 34 people have caught the disease, which has not been seen in Japan for seven decades, apart from cases contracted overseas.
The two women – Saaya, 20, and Eri Aoki, 25 – were sent to Yoyogi park in August for the Saturday variety show on which they appear, the Nikkan Sports said.
A few days later both came down with a temperature, it said.
Saaya, who has appeared regularly in Japanese Playboy, blogged about her high fever last Wednesday before news of the dengue outbreak spread.
The revelation that the two women had succumbed to the mosquito-borne disease provided fodder for the TV shows that fill daytime schedules in Japan.
The health ministry confirmed that 34 people had been infected, all of who had visited Yoyogi park, a popular green spot in Tokyo.
Dengue fever, which is carried by the Tiger mosquito, was stamped out in Japan at the end of the second world war, even though the mosquito breed remains endemic.
The symptoms range from fever to incapacitating high temperatures.
Tokyo officials have sprayed about 800 litres (176 gallons) of pesticide in the park to kill off the insect colony.
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