Dengue in Yucatan is a serious matter. We did not expect The number of cases that arose in recent weeks, as there is an epidemic outbreak, warns epidemiologist Rudy Coronado Bastarrachea, a public health specialist.
The expert points out that the main recommendation is not to self-medicate and go to the doctor in case of fever and body pain since the disease can worsen.
It also asks to collaborate as a community by discarding any container that can accumulate water and become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, as well as applying larvicide to aquatic plants or fountains to prevent the proliferation of the insect that transmits the disease.
Dr. Coronado Bastarrachea emphasizes that Yucatán is experiencing an epidemic outbreak of dengue since nobody was expecting the numbers registered and there are also cases that are not reported.
Underreporting in dengue figures is considered normal to a certain extent, he clarifies, since there are private institutions that do not report cases due to the conditions of their systems and the first-level care system of general outpatient consultation that is based on private offices adapted in pharmacies, where they give consultation and do not report cases.
He assures that in these places a good number of consultations are offered and many feverish patients are received, with body and headache pain, but they are not even reported as suspects of dengue.
The same happens with doctors who have private first contact offices, he adds, which is added to the fact that there is also a significant number of patients who self-medicate, which means that the dengue figures reported by the authority are much lower than those that is actually there
He points out that to carry out accurate epidemiological surveillance of vector-borne diseases, it is necessary to establish sentinel clinics, that is, specialized clinics that are installed in different parts of the city, where doctors from any institution or private doctors can send patients with fever to a more accurate diagnosis or perform tests.
It indicates that the dengue epidemic is evident on social networks, with publications from friends and acquaintances who report that they have the disease or even that they are in the hospital for this reason.
Hospitalizations are a sign of cases of severe dengue, which represent “the tip of the iceberg” in terms of the problem being faced, he warns.
He emphasizes that the underreporting of cases and self-medication do not reveal the magnitude of the problem, but it is evident that there is a dengue epidemic that is on the rise, in which not only are people hospitalized but also deaths, “even if they do not say so.”
He explains that fever is characterized as febrile syndrome and since many conditions cause fever, they can be confused with dengue. Dengue usually gives symptoms such as fever, headache, bone, muscle and skin rash
The Aedes Aegypti fly is the vector that transmits the dengue virus, which enters and affects blood cells, particularly platelets, which are red blood cells whose fundamental characteristic is to help the coagulation process. When the dengue virus enters the body, it affects the platelet development process, so the patient is left without that protection.
TYT Newsroom
