2023-12-06 18:45:05
In Burkina Faso, the dengue epidemic is wreaking havoc, killing more than 500 people since the start of the year. Almost the entire country is affected, but more than 80% of cases are concentrated in Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso.
Health structures recorded between January 1 and November 19, 123,804 suspected cases of dengue, 56,637 probable cases and 570 deaths, representing a case fatality rate of 1%. Since last August, dengue fever has officially been an epidemic in Burkina.
Burkina Faso facing the dengue epidemic
“Dengue is a viral disease, that is to say it is caused by a virus. And this virus is inoculated into humans through the bite of an infected female mosquito called Aedes”explains Moussa Guelbeogo, medical entomologist, head of the vector control branch.
Fever, headache, muscle pain, nausea, diarrhea, bleeding… dengue can manifest itself in various ways. Health workers advise patients to go to a health center if these symptoms appear. Dengue is very different from malaria.
“Dengue and malaria, there are things not to do because that is what leads people towards complications. We will never stop saying it, especially dengue, we must avoid self-medication, warns Abdallah Ouédraogo, chief physician at the Gounghin 6 medical center, in Ouagadougou.. There are medications that are contraindicated for this disease when taken, it causes more complications than dengue itself.”
The government hopes that an effective vaccine against the disease will be available very soon.
Robert Lucien Kargougou, Burkinabe Minister of Health. (VOA/Lamine Traoré)
“There was a vaccine that had been produced but very quickly we realized that it was not very effective, recalls Robert Lucien Kargougou, the Minister of Health. On the contrary, it created more problems. There is another for which we are awaiting feedback from the technical advisory group on vaccination.”
In order to extinguish the epidemic, one of the response strategies is indoor spraying and spatial spraying in areas with a high concentration of dengue cases. According to the Minister of Health, for two weeks the trend of dengue fever has been decreasing, but assures that he is ensuring the strengthening of actions against its spread.
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