2024-02-13 04:16:11
Guyana is facing its largest dengue epidemic in twenty years. It began in mid-2023 and has accelerated since the beginning of January with 800 new cases declared on average per week, according to health authorities.
“We are in an active circulation phase with more than 800 cases reported per week since the start of the year.“, confirmed on February 6 during a press briefing the director of the Regional Health Agency (ARS), Dimitri Grygowski. Two dengue genotypes out of the four existing are circulating at the same time in Guyana. An epidemic favored by rainy season and which has accelerated since January. According to Public Health France, 5,800 confirmed cases of dengue have been recorded in the Amazonian department of 300,000 inhabitants since the start of 2023, including 2,996 already in 2024.
The first week of February, the impact remained “relatively limited“on the Guyanese health system, the infection generating”8 to 10% more activity“for emergencies in Kourou and Cayenne hospitals. A monitoring unit bringing together State services and the local authority of Guyana (CTG) was activated on February 6 for measures”to curb this dynamic as much as possible“, indicated prefect Antoine Poussier.
The next day, the state representative signed an order to accelerate the removal of end-of-life vehicles, numerous on the roadsides and “which constitute mosquito breeding grounds facilitating the spread of dengue“For its part, the CTG promised to”increase its human and material resources“in the field of mosquito control, for which it has competence. Its president Gabriel Serville evokes a “epidemic on a scale that we have not experienced for twenty years“.
According to the work of the Pasteur Institute, dengue epidemics are increasingly frequent and intense, particularly due to demographic pressure. Climate change also favors its circulation and disease “is gaining ground, particularly in southern Europe since the arrival of the tiger mosquito“, according to the director of the Institut Pasteur de Cayenne, Christophe Peyrefitte.
This virus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, once morest which no vaccine is recommended by the High Authority for Health (HAS), can cause hemorrhages or shock syndromes in the most serious cases. In tropical and intertropical areas, such as Guyana, epidemics return every three to five years and generally last 12 to 18 months. Viral waves are more or less intense.
Also read >>> Mosquitoes: dengue fever is declining in New Caledonia but caution is still required
1707798761
#Major #dengue #epidemic #Guyana
