Natalie Feist was only 15 and spending the summer holidays with her family in the Philippines. Her Filipina mother Rosa is the sister of famous singer Pilita Corrales and her father, Ed Feist is the head of a large pharmaceutical company in Manila.
But the dengue mosquito does not choose its victims. Natalie was bitten and she died a short time later. It started as a stomach ache that progressed into the deadly dengue fever. The headache was excruciating and it snapped the life out of this pretty and vibrant teenager.
A NSW Health spokesperson said there had been no dengue fever deaths reported in NSW but the number of cases had risen from 28 in 2004 to 71 in 2007.