Re: Puerto Rico: Dengue above epidemic threshold - 20 fatalities
Re: Puerto Rico: Dengue above epidemic threshold - 20 fatalities
Spanish to English translation
Puerto Rico
September 11, 2010
Broken record dengue
The 20 deaths were reported in excess of 1998
By Keila Lopez Alicea / keila.lopez @ elnuevodia.com
The 2010 became the year yesterday in the largest number of fatalities caused by dengue, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English) confirmed two new deaths from the virus.
Thus, so far this year 20 people have died of dengue.
"We are saddened by the large number of people we have lost by the virus, but now we have to focus on what we can do to serve the rest of the population and prevent further contagion," said Secretary of the Department of Health, Lorenzo Gonz?lez .
The previous record of deaths from dengue was recorded in 1998, which killed 19 people.
Health epidemiologist, Carmen Deseda, only reported that the two victims were adults.
No specific information was given about their ages or the towns in which they lived.
The CDC report, released yesterday, reflecting registered cases for three weeks, so that the deaths occurred in the week that included the 13 to 19 August.
Also, the CDC confirmed an additional case of dengue hemorrhagic fever, more severe form of the virus, so the total now reaches 28. The report also notes that for this week reported 959 cases of dengue, 751 cases above the epidemic threshold.
While acknowledging the severity of the current epidemic of dengue, the Secretary indicated that the action plan of the agency is not about comparisons with previous years, it said that technological advances now make it possible to identify a greater number of cases.
"I'm not using this as an excuse, but one of the things that people do not understand is that we identify a number of people in the past died from conditions that were not specified and determination to take the analysis of liver tissue and in these cases, we have now been identified who died from dengue, "said Gonzalez.
Ineffective asperjaci?n
To handle cases of dengue, the Health Department now focuses on providing training to primary care physicians and emergency rooms, on the appropriate management of patients with symptoms of dengue. This after it was determined that most of those killed died after seeking medical care and being discharged.
"Definitely we continue the effort to train doctors in Puerto Rico, internists, emergency room doctor, primary care ... What we said is that it is necessary that those doctors who have the first interaction with patients are trained to handle cases, "Gonzalez said.
The official said that already 2,600 of the 7,000 doctors who receive trainings, have already taken. However, the Secretary has indicated that it does not rule out extending the requirement for other specialists in medicine have to take the courses.
Similarly, the health minister said he remains in communication with the mayors of 78 municipalities to assist in the work to reduce the spread of the mosquito Aedes aegypti. However, Gonzalez yesterday downplayed the asperjaci?n at a hearing of the House Committee on Health.
"The asperjaci?n is only 3 percent of the effort to combat the disease," said Secretary, referring to criticism from local leaders about the lack of spraying in the communities.
Continues at a steady pace
In addition to data from the U.S. organization, the information provided by the local agency indicated that this week will be reported 941 suspected cases of the virus.
Although in the past two weeks there had been a decrease in suspected cases reported by the Department of Health, this week more than 186 cases reported last week.
In total, the number of reported suspected cases of this virus as this year and amounted to 13.106.
According to the data provided this week by the Sanitation Programme of the Immediate Physical Environment Agency, the region with more cases is Bayamon, with a total of 187. Ponce followed with 169 cases and Arecibo, with 165.
All these cases must be now confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English).
http://www.elnuevodia.com/recorddemuertespordengue-777431.html
