DENGUE

Deadly disease on increase

Mosquitoes on the increase

STAFF
periodistas@laestrella.com.pa

CHIRIQUI. Cases of dengue have increased significantly, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health (MINSA).

An additional 210 cases have been reported up to 15 August this year, compared with the same period in 2008.

In all, there have been 1,521 suspected cases throughout the country, more than half of them in Chiriqui where one man has already died of cerebral dengue.

MINSA authorites in Chiriqui have increased fumigation efforts in the province in recent weeks, particularly in border areas with Costa Rica.

MINSA is blaming the advent of the rainy season for the surge in numbers and warn that more cases are likely unless adequate preventive measures are put in place.

They recommend inspecting gardens and outside areas and draining any areas of standing water, including old tyres, buckets etc.

“The more areas there are for the mosquitoes to breed, the more exposed people will be to dengue,” said Oscar Gonzalez, MINSA’s National Director of Vector Control.

He said that infrequent garbage collection and uninhabited municipal and private lots that have been allowed to get overgrown are also adding to the increase in numbers of mosquitoes.

Meanwhile, a conference in Brazil on control of vector-borne diseases has warned that the dengue mosquito, Aedes Aegypti, does not only breed in open sources of water.

According to scientists at the 12th Symposium on Vectors, mosquitoes have been found to breed in dirty water and in closed-off sources of water such as sewer pipes and drains under roads.

They also found that mosquitoes were breeding inside a closed tank having passed through a tiny hole to lay their eggs.