The Peruvian Ministry of Health has decreed a state of health emergency for 90 days in 59 districts of 13 regions due to a dengue epidemic that has already caused 16 deaths this year.
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The provision had been proposed by the government last week, but only became effective yesterday with the publication in the Official Gazette, “El Peruano”. And the regions concerned are Amazonas, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Cusco, Huánuco, Ica, Junín, Lambayeque, Loreto, Madre de Dios, Piura, San Martín and Ucayali,
The decree, the ministry underlined, “has the purpose of intensifying and accelerating control interventions in the population in the face of multiple outbreaks of this disease which carries a high risk of death”.
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The regions indicated are located in the north, center and southeast of the country. The National Center for Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control indicated that 11,585 dengue cases and 16 deaths have been recorded so far in the north, central and southeast regions of the country this year (of which 12 have already been confirmed). and four under analysis).
DENGUE: THE VACCINE APPROVED BY THE EMA
In 2022, Peru recorded more than 72,000 cases of dengue resulting in 84 deaths.
What is Dengue
The viral disease is transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes aegypti (the same ones involved in Zika virus and Chikungunya).
After being stung by the insect, a feverish state can occur with high temperature, headache, joint pain (and often also in the eyes), skin rashes.
Is it always deadly?
This infection is not always fatal, on the contrary. Cases in which it develops in a severe form involve hemorrhagic fevers and anaphylactic shock.
At risk of contracting the disease in a more serious form are people with pre-existing cardiovascular disorders, asthma or diabetes.
How to diagnose it
Difficult to formulate a diagnosis of Dengue on the fly when the first symptoms appear. This is especially true in younger patients who present almost imperceptible signals.
The death toll from Dengue is between twenty and twenty-five thousand, each year. Which convinced the WHO to include this among the top ten health emergencies globally.
The countries concerned and the vaccine
Dengue is the second cause of fever, after malaria, which can be recorded among travelers returning from countries such as India, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil. There is a vaccine approved by the EMA and produced by Takeda which can be administered to all people at risk as long as they are over 4 years of age.