This viral disease has caused concern in various departments due to the increase in infections.
HUILA DAILY, HEALTH
This week new reports of the increase in dengue cases that are being registered in several countries in Latin America and the world were known. In Colombia, the most recent figures from the National Institute of Health (INS) show that the country has documented about 62,473 cases of the viral disease so far this year alone.
Dengue care requires joint work between the communities and the authorities.
Of the people affected, 34,631 (55.4%) presented symptoms without alarm signs, 26,946 (43.1%) did have alarm signs, and another 896 cases (1.4%) were classified as severe dengue. About 82% of people with warning signs had to be admitted to a hospital, a figure that increased to 97% of the cases of people who were diagnosed with severe dengue.
According to the INS bulletin, six out of ten cases occurred in these territorial entities: Meta, Tolima, Santander, Cali, Cesar, Antioquia, Bolívar, Sucre, Cundinamarca and Córdoba.
“At epidemiological week 30 of 2023, the national incidence of dengue is 174.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants at risk; for the same period in 2022, the incidence was 104.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Of the 38 departmental and district territorial entities of Colombia, Bogotá is the only entity without a population at risk for the event,” the INS stressed in its report.
Likewise, the health authority announced that there was an increase of 13.6% in the number of cases analyzed during the past three weeks compared to the same previous period. As can be seen in the figures, the reported cases have had a considerable increase in relation to what had been registered in previous years.
This is because 2023 is classified as an “epidemic year”, which implies that dengue is circulating with much more force than normal. These periods in which cases of the viral disease increase in Latin America are occurring every three or five years, as reported by entities such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
The recommendation of that health body, however, is that countries not only take measures to mitigate the circulation of mosquitoes that carry the virus, but also have health teams and professionals prepared to keep mortality figures low despite the increase in infections.
In Colombia, for example, the INS indicated that 205 probable deaths from dengue have been identified, of which 35 have already been confirmed, 93 have been ruled out, and another 77 are under study by the competent authorities.
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Dengue circulates in more than 130 countries
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) made some recommendations to national states because it has identified that dengue is circulating strongly in various parts of the world. In America alone, it is estimated that it has already infected more than 3 million people.
According to the figures shared by PAHO, around 2.6 million cases of dengue have been registered in the Southern Cone and Brazil represents around 80% of all infections.
“The incidence has increased almost eightfold since the year 2000,” Raman Velayudhan, head of WHO’s Veterinary Public Health, Vector Control and Environment, and Neglected Tropical Diseases Unit, said during a webinar. “We must put into practice the lessons learned from the pandemic, such as the diagnosis and use of PCR tests, improved surveillance, good communication and community participation,” added the expert.
There are subregions that are of particular concern to international organizations. For example, PAHO indicated that, in the Andean subregion, to which Colombia belongs, more than 400,000 new cases of dengue have been reported and the fatality rates have increased.
The authorities have advanced days to clean up and eliminate mosquito breeding sites to deal with dengue.