Dengue cases up but still true figures thought to be much higher

Officials from the Ministry of Health  called a press conference on Wednesday morning at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital to summon the help of the public in fighting the battle with dengue.

It was announced there that there has been an increase in the number of diagnosed cases, as well as three deaths for this year,   The high demand for beds for dengue cases at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, coupled with the outbreak, has spawned an all out reactive approach by the Ministry of Health and related bodies.  Representatives of those groups called a press conference this morning to let the public in on their roles in the fight, safety precautions, clinical treatment of dengue and an overall approach to the plague.

According to the Director of Health Services, Dr. Michael Pitts, the figures that have racked up for what is considered only a third of this peak season are so high that it has prompted health officials to take action with their awareness campaigns, refreshers with doctors at the various clinics and hospitals and the environmental approach of spraying populated areas.  Last year, there were 1,370 confirmed cases of dengue in the public health system.  For this year alone Kim Bautista, Chief, Vector Control Officer in the Ministry of Health announced that there are already 807 cases of the virus. What is more frightening is that of that amount, 513 of those cases have been detected in the Belize District. The only other district to be significantly affected, Cayo, has recorded 210 cases.  These figures are to to last week Friday.

While these figures are a cause for concern, truth is they still do not reflect the true picture of dengue cases in Belize because many -as much as thirty percent of  patients – take their tests at private medical institutions and the statistics coming from those private labs do not reach the Ministry of Health fast enough.  In fact, it is believed that many never reach the Ministry.

Of equal concern for  health officials is the  fact that whenever there is an outbreak, a few of the cases will end up fatal because the symptoms portrayed by dengue hemorrhagic can be confused with other acute illnesses or conditions.

Fighting dengue, however is an all-inclusive battle.  The effort has to come from everyone, even the residents.  Cleaning up yards of old tires, coconut shells, and bottles and using mosquito sprays help eliminate the problem. Even discarding of hot fat in drains can help as the cooking oil creates a layer on the water’s surface that the mosquito larvae cannot penetrate in order to breathe.

Health officials will team up with residents on Saturday for an all-day clean-up campaign in Belize City, with much of the emphasis on the south side from which the majority of the cases have originated.

| | | | | |