Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.ticotimes.net/Current-Ed...00-in-Limon-province_Friday-September-23-2011
Dengue outbreak infects more than 4,000 in Lim?n province
Posted: Friday, September 23, 2011 - By Matt Levin
Health officials work to control the spread of the mosquito-borne illness as hospitals on the Caribbean become inundated with patients. So far no deaths have been reported.
...Through the week of Sept. 10, the Costa Rican Health Ministry reported 6,650 cases of dengue in the country, with 4,111 on the Atlantic coast. In 2010, the Atlantic coast counted only 1,715 cases.
Dengue outbreaks usually occur between July and October, corresponding with the rainy season. The Atlantic coast has not experienced a dengue outbreak in four years. Although the Caribbean weather has been drier than normal, the humidity makes it easy for Aedes aegypti to reproduce.
But an ?atypical? factor has made the outbreak a struggle to curb. Four serotypes (strains) of dengue exist. Three of those strains have been found in Lim?n this year.
?When you have three serotypes circulating at the same time, it?s a thing that?s very difficult to control,? Mar?n said.
The most affected areas have been Lim?n Centro, Limoncito and Pueblo Nuevo in the Lim?n canton; Hone Creek, Puerto Viejo and Cahuita in Talamanca; San Rafael and San Mart?n in Siquirres; Toro Amarillo and Gu?piles Centro in Gu?piles; and several towns in the Gu?cimo canton, according to statistics from the Health Ministry.
Dengue cases in the country have dropped overall. Last year, the Central Pacific, North Central, South Central, Chorotega (in Guanacaste in the northwest) and Brunca (near the Panama border) regions all reported more than 3,000 cases. Almost 6,500 cases alone were diagnosed in the Chorotega region compared to 426 this year. After the Atlantic, the Central Pacific has the second most cases this year with 1,342...
Dengue outbreak infects more than 4,000 in Lim?n province
Posted: Friday, September 23, 2011 - By Matt Levin
Health officials work to control the spread of the mosquito-borne illness as hospitals on the Caribbean become inundated with patients. So far no deaths have been reported.
...Through the week of Sept. 10, the Costa Rican Health Ministry reported 6,650 cases of dengue in the country, with 4,111 on the Atlantic coast. In 2010, the Atlantic coast counted only 1,715 cases.
Dengue outbreaks usually occur between July and October, corresponding with the rainy season. The Atlantic coast has not experienced a dengue outbreak in four years. Although the Caribbean weather has been drier than normal, the humidity makes it easy for Aedes aegypti to reproduce.
But an ?atypical? factor has made the outbreak a struggle to curb. Four serotypes (strains) of dengue exist. Three of those strains have been found in Lim?n this year.
?When you have three serotypes circulating at the same time, it?s a thing that?s very difficult to control,? Mar?n said.
The most affected areas have been Lim?n Centro, Limoncito and Pueblo Nuevo in the Lim?n canton; Hone Creek, Puerto Viejo and Cahuita in Talamanca; San Rafael and San Mart?n in Siquirres; Toro Amarillo and Gu?piles Centro in Gu?piles; and several towns in the Gu?cimo canton, according to statistics from the Health Ministry.
Dengue cases in the country have dropped overall. Last year, the Central Pacific, North Central, South Central, Chorotega (in Guanacaste in the northwest) and Brunca (near the Panama border) regions all reported more than 3,000 cases. Almost 6,500 cases alone were diagnosed in the Chorotega region compared to 426 this year. After the Atlantic, the Central Pacific has the second most cases this year with 1,342...