2024-03-27 20:23:59
Córdoba registers more than 24 thousand infected with dengue in almost its entire territory. Only a few departments avoid it (Sobremonte, Ischilin, Minas and Pocho). According to the National Epidemiological Report, during the first week of 2024, there were only 90 cases in the province and in a little more than three months they already exceed 24,300.
The mosquito is the vectormeaning that dengue is not spread from person to person, but rather the same human infects the insect, which transmits the disease to us when it bites us. The female Aedes aegypti lives for approximately one month. and during that time it is transmitting the disease. And, as in covid, the more movement of people, the better the conditions for the spread.
Dengue: Natural alternatives to chemical repellents
The health minister Fernán Quirós, Minister of Health of the City of Buenos Aires, left some recommendations on how to prevent the bite. As he described, dengue began during the Holiday season and ended in the first two weeks of April. “But now there was a change, there began to be cases since November,” she remarked.
The tropicalization of the climate with high temperatures are confirmations that “dengue is going to be increasingly consistent in Argentina and in the region and it will increasingly go further south in the country,” he indicated.
Who do mosquitoes bite?
In the latest National Epidemiological report, it indicates that the minimum cumulative incidence is observed in children under 4 years of age, with 77 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and a maximum of 423 cases per 100,000 inhabitants among those between 25 and 29 years of age. The fatality rate at the country level so far is 0.07%.
In Córdoba, 13 deaths have been recorded, one of them was infected by the Den-1 serotype and seven with Den-2. Only a tenth of deaths are caused in patients with comorbidities and the Den-3 serotype. Quirós pointed out that “the greatest number of dengue infections occurs in the age range between 10 and 30 years.”
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On the other hand, he stressed that the mosquito that appeared in recent days, as a result of the rains and floods, is not the type that transmits dengue.
Where is the mosquito that transmits dengue?
“The Aedes aegypti is not usually in the air or open places. It is called a ‘pet mosquito’ because it is in very protected places and always lives around humans, at work or in your home. But it is not a mosquito that you ring in your ear or walk on the ceilings. It is usually under the table furniture. It is when you are having dinner and your ankle itches,” commented the Buenos Aires Minister of Health.
Quirós recommended focusing the use of repellent on the ankles and remaining as protected as possible. “Put yourself in the areas you can’t see,” he said.
Going for a run with repellent would not be necessary. “I have a lot of people who go out for a run and put on repellent. The mosquito that transmits the disease is not going to bite you there, another type is going to bite you,” he added.
Despite everything, it is worth clarifying that “the mosquito has the ability to fly up to 80 meters. If females get everything they need (where to feed and lay eggs) to live in an environment, they may not move as much. They usually choose multiple containers and do not lay their 200 eggs in one place,” explained Elizabet Estallo. Recommending that all neighbors keep places clean and preventing them from being “ideal habitats” for the spread.
It is not a nocturnal mosquito but a diurnal one. “It is a mosquito that does not bite at night, in the dark. It is a mosquito that usually bites in the morning, between dawn, mid-morning or dusk. The terrible time is between five and 9:00 p.m., it is the time where “It has the habit of flying and stinging,” he concluded.
The vaccination campaign
Carlos Girona, the Secretary of Health of the province of Córdoba, considers that the vaccine marketed in the country is “safe and effective, but in studies in a small population.” It has not yet been confirmed whether it is an inoculation that can be applied in conjunction with the other doses that make up the national vaccination schedule. After this year it will be defined what decision will be made,” he commented.
For now, family doctors will be the ones who must indicate whether the patient can receive it. Immunity is acquired after a couple of weeks after the second dose is administered. Quirós, the Buenos Aires Minister of Health, stressed that it has been used for more than a year and that there is “scientific information on its safety and effectiveness,” but that there are technical discussions about when, how and to whom to apply it.
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