Panama: Dengue interventions begin in Veracruz, Metropolitan Region
Metropolitan Region reports 3,662 confirmed dengue fever cases and four deaths this year to date. The districts with the most cases are Las Garzas, 24 de Diciembre, Veracruz, Tocumen, Mañanitas and Juan Díaz.
The team from the Metropolitan Health Region with the support of the National Aeronaval Service (Senan), began an operation this Monday, August 19 in the town of Veracruz with inspection and spraying to eliminate the breeding grounds of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, the transmitter of dengue.
Ricardo Torres Castillo, director of the Metropolitan Health Region, said that the actions are being carried out due to the increase in cases, which in the last epidemiological week No. 32 reported 228 confirmed cases, and the sectors with the highest number of cases are Bello Horizonte, Koskuna and Costa del Sol.
Torres Castillo reiterated the call to the population to eliminate mosquito breeding sites, because although nebulization eliminates adult mosquitoes, the larvae breed in containers, which are mostly useful and where water is stored, therefore, they must be kept free of breeding sites.
The Vector Control, Epidemiology and Health Promotion team visited the aforementioned sectors in search of febrile cases and advised the population that if they had symptoms, they should go to the Health Center, not self-medicate and keep reserve water tanks tightly covered.
Graphic Guide to Infectious Disease
The Health team's interventions against dengue are carried out simultaneously in the districts of Las Garzas, 24 de Diciembre and this week in the district of Veracruz.
Nationally, the report from the Epidemiology Department of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) revealed that up to epidemiological week No. 32, a total of 12,594 cases of dengue have been registered in the national territory.
The report detailed that, of that number, Panama Metro with 3,662; Colon with 1,762; Panama West 1,289; Chiriqui 990; Panama North 955; are the regions of the country with the highest number of accumulated cases of dengue.
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26 deaths have been reported throughout the country from the following regions—in the following regions: Colón (8), Chiriquí (4), Metropolitan (4), East Panama (2), North Panama (2), Coclé (2), West Panama (1), Guna Yala (1), Ngäbe Buglé (1) and Los Santos (1).
This year, the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies (ICGES) has identified the circulation of the four serotypes (DENV1, DENV2, DENV3 and DENV4).
The COSMOPOLITAN genotype of the DENV-2 serotype has not been detected in the country.
On July 29, Panama declared a health alert in the regions of Panama Metro, Colon, Panama East and Panama West due to the high incidence of cases.
Dengue is a serious and potentially fatal disease transmitted through the bite of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. Due to climatic and socioeconomic conditions, Latin America and the Caribbean are particularly prone to its spread.