Due to the increase in dengue cases in the state, the director of Prevention and Health Protection of the Yucatan Health Secretariat (SSY), Carlos Isaac Hernandez Fuentes, said that it is not necessary to declare a state of emergency.
“It is not necessary, prevention activities have been carried out prior to the rainy season and during the rainy season.”
At the cut-off of week 39, according to the epidemiological report, in Yucatan there are 6,800 confirmed cases of dengue and seven deaths from the disease, however, there are cases that are still in opinion.
“Unfortunately, we had had an exponential growth, but at this moment we already have less than 500 cases per week, we are entering a plateau but the rains are not helping us much”.
He indicated that the hospital capacity in the state has not been exceeded by this disease, an issue that is permanently under surveillance, as the SSY holds daily meetings to inform on the subject.
He confirmed that the most affected population group so far are people between 5 and 24 years old.
In addition, he said that last week a notice arrived from the General Directorate of Epidemiology to notify of the identification of a new strain of dengue.
The outbreak of dengue this season, he stressed, is something that was projected, in addition to the fact that 6 years ago an outbreak was not registered, dengue 3 did not exceed one hundred cases, but now it is the one that registers more presence in the state.
“The new strain is dengue 3, it is information that has just been confirmed to us. At this moment, it is the type of dengue that has the greatest presence nationally, worldwide and obviously at the peninsular level.”
He explained that regularly dengue is divided into zero types from 1 to 4, as for dengue 3, the strain that had circulated in the state was the American dengue 3 number 1, but it was not so frequent, he detailed.
“They did the typing (…) and managed to isolate the cases that are occurring in Mexico and it is dengue 3 with zero American type 2”.
He reminded the population that dengue is transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti vector, its flight perimeter is less than 30 meters, so regularly, if there is a case of dengue in the house with a family member, the mosquito remains in the periphery with the risk of infecting more people.
“It is worldwide, for example Paris has a very strong issue, Africa also, Central and South America we have dengue and well, Yucatan is no exception.”
Fighting the mosquito
The doctor explained that the mosquito is an anthropophilic species, that is to say, it adapts easily to its environment, “it likes to adapt to big cities, where there is more population density, we must remember that we have many empty houses here in Merida due to people who do not occupy them or do not rent them frequently”.
As well as the elderly population who find it difficult to clean the yard of garbage or mosquito breeding sites.
“It is not only a matter of fumigation, but of everyone’s collaboration to turn around and look for all those water reservoirs that can be a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes”.
He urged the population to use repellent permanently and to open doors and windows when fumigating their homes.
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