Saturday 9 December 2023

Dengue regresses almost 300% in Costa Rica

Only 1,556 contracted this disease in the first half of the year; The country has almost no cases of Zika and Chikungunya, confirms the Ministry of Health

Paying the bills

Latest

The Casino Games With the Best Odds

Casino gambling on iGaming sites like mrbet or in...

Former Panamanian presidential candidate connected to a money laundering investigation arrested in Costa Rica

QCOSTARICA -- Costa Rican police on Tuesday arrested Panamanian...

Bailey Bridge will ease traffic congestion in front of San Jose airport

QCOSTARICA -- On Friday (tomorrow) traffic will be enabled...

Half of Ticos will vote in municipal elections, UNA survey

QCOSTARICA -- 46.3% of voters are 100% convinced that...

Fidel’s Sister and Outspoken Critic, Juanita Castro, Dies in Miami

Q24N - Juanita Castro, the younger sister of Fidel...

Exploring the potential of AI in sports betting

Sports betting is a popular and exciting activity that...

Dollar Exchange

¢526.96 BUY

¢533.11 SELL

9 December 2023 - At The Banks - Source: BCCR

Paying the bills

Share

QCOSTARICA – As has happened with other viral diseases, dengue declined substantially this year, although cases may increase when the rains intensify if the population becomes neglectful.

For the first semester of 2021, the Ministry of Health registered 1,556 cases of dengue.

- Advertisement -

The figure is 280% lower than that registered for the same time in 2020, when 4,355 cases were reported, reported epidemiologist Melissa Ramírez, of the Health Surveillance Directorate, of the Ministry of Health.

The numbers of Zika and Chikungunya, two other vector-borne diseases, are practically flat with 21 and 15 cases, respectively, in the same period.

“We do not have evidence of what may be happening. These diseases are multifactorial. Dengue has cyclical behaviors. Every five years, an epidemic peak attributed to climate change is expected,” said Ramírez.

The epidemiologist discusses some hypotheses. The main one is related to less mobility of people due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We think that due to covid, people are at home more, there is less movement in the population due to (vehicle) restrictions, and this may cause the virus to decrease. Even if there is a vector (in this case, a transmitter mosquito), there are fewer carriers of the virus,” she explained.

Another of the situations derived from the pandemic, which would be the second hypothesis to explain this reduction, is the possibility that dengue, Zika or Chikungunya patients visit health services less for fear of catching Covid.

- Advertisement -

And the third possible cause is that people, being more at home, have a greater concern for maintaining cleanliness, both inside and around their home.

Fumigtating against Dengue

The dengue virus entered the country in 1992. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the infection causes symptoms similar to those caused by the flu (fever and body pain).

Sometimes it progresses to a life-threatening condition called severe dengue, previously known as hemorrhagic dengue.

The females, mainly of the Aedes aegypti species and, to a lesser extent, of A. albopictus, are the ones that transmit the disease, as with Zika and Chikungunya.

- Advertisement -

Currently, no outbreak of these diseases is reported in the country, although the cantons of Talamanca (Limón), San Carlos (Alajuela) and Pérez Zeledón (San José) continue to lead the number of patients.

In the region of the Americas, the epidemiologist explained, there is also a significant decrease in the curve after the epidemic outbreaks of 2019, which caused several hundred deaths.

At the gates of the strongest phase of the rainy season, the specialist said it is not yet known what will happen precisely, but it is likely that the cases will increase because the populations of mosquitoes transmitting these diseases increase with the rains.

This explains the importance, always in force, of eliminating mosquito breeding sites in the surroundings of the houses.

So far this year alone, teams have visited more than 363,000 homes across the country and have been responsible for eliminating 596,000 breeding sites.

The little big enemy

The female mosquito Aedes aegypti is responsible for transmitting several viruses at the same time; among them, dengue, chikungunya, and zika. The task in all households is to destroy their breeding sites.

 

- Advertisement -
Paying the bills
Rico
Ricohttp://www.theqmedia.com
"Rico" is the crazy mind behind the Q media websites, a series of online magazines where everything is Q! In these times of new normal, stay at home. Stay safe. Stay healthy.

Related Articles

Costa Rica in fourth place with the highest incidence of dengue in Central America

QCOSTARICA -- A total of 15,495 accumulated cases of dengue were...

Pavas Health Area warns of dengue outbreaks in two communities

QCOSTARICA - The Pavas Health Area asked the residents of the...

Subscribe to our stories

To be updated with all the latest news, offers and special announcements.

%d