Three people died in Tucumán, one in Santa Fe and another in Jujuy due to dengue -according to what was reported by the local health authorities-, and in the country the cases exceed 9,000, almost twice as many as a fortnight ago, in which constitutes a new outbreak of this disease, which according to specialists has not presented more serious symptoms so far than in previous years.
This morning the Tucumán Ministry of Public Health reported that two people diagnosed with dengue died and there are already three deaths from this infection so far this year in the province.
The three deaths in Tucumán are added to the one reported yesterday by the Jujuy health portfolio, and to the one confirmed by the Santa Fe portfolio last week; while today the Buenos Aires Minister of Health, Nicolás Kreplak, pointed out that in the province there is “a person who came from another country and who died with suspicion of dengue.” Specifically, he refers to the case of La Plata.
ABOUT 10 THOUSAND CASES
In relation to the number of cases at the national level, the Ministry of Health reported that up to epidemiological week 11 (from March 12 to 18) 9,388 cases of dengue were reported, of which 8,504 acquired the infection in Argentina.
So far, the circulation of this virus has been identified in 13 jurisdictions: Buenos Aires (three locations), the city of Buenos Aires, Catamarca (two locations), Chaco (two locations), Corrientes (two locations), Córdoba (one location) , Entre Ríos (one locality), Formosa (two localities), Jujuy (three localities), Salta (nine localities), Santa Fe (16 localities), Santiago del Estero (six localities) and Tucumán (15 localities).
In relation to Tucumán, one of the most affected jurisdictions, the local health portfolio reported that there are 6,000 confirmed cases in the public health sector, although it is estimated that the figure would be higher if those in the private sector that are not always reported are included.
One of the new fatalities was identified as Leandro Ibarra, 34 years old and a native of the capital of Tucumán, who suffered from obesity, while the other was a man from La Banda del Río Salí, whose data so far were not provided by the authorities. authorities.
Meanwhile, last Thursday the first death was recorded in that province due to dengue of a man identified as Jesús Emanuel Valdez, 21, who also suffered from comorbidities.
Yesterday, the Jujuy Ministry of Health notified through a statement the death of a 49-year-old woman who had comorbidities and was infected with dengue; while she described that the infection curve in the province presents an “upward trend”.
For his part, the Buenos Aires Minister of Health, Nicolás Kreplak, assured today that “the maximum peak moment of an epidemic” is being recorded, in relation to the rise in dengue and chikungunya cases in recent weeks.
In the city of Buenos Aires, the local health ministry estimated that some 1,800 people had dengue fever so far this season and no deaths from the disease have been recorded so far.
The most affected neighborhoods are Parque Avellaneda, Liniers and Mataderos, although there are also cases in Barracas, La Boca, Nueva Pompeya, Parque Patricios, Flores and Parque Chacabuco, among others.
In relation to whether this year the severity of the cases is greater than in previous seasons, the deputy director of the Hospital Muñiz de CABA, Juan Carlos Cisneros, said in dialogue with Télam that “what we are seeing in the hospital is that there are no serious cases “.
“Of all the patients we attended, only two are in intensive care, one is a severely immunocompromised person, and the other case is a person who had dengue a few days ago, so it is difficult to determine whether or not it is due to this virus. “, he added.
Regarding the severe forms, he pointed out that “the most complicated picture that dengue can generate is hemorrhagic fever that affects all organs.”
“When you have dengue for the first time, it is estimated that only 3 percent of patients develop this picture; the second time it can affect between 15 and 20 percent and the third time it affects more than 20 percent of people infected,” he said.
Cisneros explained that “this has to do with the reaction of the immune system against the virus; on the one hand, the body generates antibodies for the type of dengue with which the person was infected, but if it is infected with another serotype, the inflammatory response increases greatly. and can lead to pictures such as hemorrhagic fever”.
Dengue is a viral disease transmitted by the bite of the Aedes genus mosquito, mainly by Aedes aegypti. When the mosquito feeds on the blood of a person infected with the dengue virus, it acquires the virus and after 8 to 12 days it is capable of transmitting it to a healthy person through its bite; this mosquito can also transmit chikungunya fever, of which there are an estimated 528 cases in the country.
The symptoms of dengue are fever accompanied by one or more of the following: pain behind the eyes, headache, muscle pain, and joint pain, nausea and vomiting, intense tiredness, blotchy appearance of the skin, and itching and/or bleeding from the nose. and gums.
As the main form of transmission is through bites, the most important prevention measure is the elimination of all mosquito breeding sites, that is, all containers that contain water, both inside and around homes.
Regarding how the outbreak will evolve, the national director of Control of Communicable Diseases of the Ministry of Health, Teresa Strella, pointed out that “the drop in temperature is what interrupts the reproduction of the mosquito and marks a brake; meanwhile, emphasis must be placed on the care such as the use of repellent, clothing that covers most of the body, placement of mosquito nets and the elimination of all containers where water can accumulate”.
