2023-06-22 13:32:26
/picture alliance, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Martin Mejia
Lima – More people have been infected with the dengue virus in Peru than at any time in the country’s history. Meanwhile, Peru’s Health Minister Rosa Gutierrez announced her resignation in a speech in Congress last week. Previously, the legislature had asked her to face a motion to remove her from office.
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte appointed a new health minister on Monday. The new minister, César Vásquez, is a doctor and former MP (2016-2019) for the Alianza para el Progreso party. Boluarte promised in a post Twitterto “double down” efforts to improve public health.
Peru’s health authorities reported 115,949 cases of dengue by the end of May; of these, 60,178 (51.9%) have been confirmed in the laboratory and 293 (0.25%) have been classified as severe. The cases registered up to calendar week 21 exceed the corresponding period in 2022 by 161% and are even 365% higher compared to the average of the last 5 years. A total of 166 deaths were reported during the same period (mortality: 0.143%).
The last number reported on June 19 was that there were more than 156,700 infections and 273 deaths. So far, most deaths have occurred in the north of the country. Boluarte had already declared a two-month state of emergency for most regions of the country. It is the worst dengue outbreak Peru has ever seen.
Dengue fever is more prevalent in poverty-stricken areas of Peru, affecting 27.5% of Peru’s 33 million people, highlighting the lack of drinking water supplies. Fifteen percent of Peruvians, about four million, have no access to water in their homes, according to official figures.
The government attributes the surge in cases to climate, particularly torrential rains earlier in the year on the Pacific Ocean coast, such as those left behind by Tropical Cyclone Yaku. The outbreak is likely to get worse as heavy rainfall is likely to lead to a further increase in mosquito populations, which transmit dengue fever, due to the El Niño climate phenomenon.
Peru isn’t the only country in the region to have broken dengue records. In April, Argentina announced that the number of registered dengue cases exceeded those of the previous two years and those of the 2020 and 2016 epidemics. In February, Bolivia recorded its worst epidemic in 15 years.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The German Medical Journal reported about it. © Archyde.com/AP/gie/aerzteblatt.de
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