2024-02-22 17:37:36
Sitting in the corridor, the man waits his turn at the infectious and tropical diseases unit (UMIT) of the Cayenne hospital center. Patrick, a 60-year-old metropolitan civil servant who wishes to remain anonymous, is barely recovering from dengue hemorrhagic fever. It evokes “very tired at the beginning, a fever of 38.5 degrees which does not go down, no more feeling of hunger or thirst”. Three days after the first symptoms, victim of “major dehydration”he goes to the hospital. “I waited a long time in the emergency room, but the care at UMIT was impeccablesays this resident of the outskirts of Cayenne. Thirteen days after the onset of the disease, a vessel burst in my right eye, I can barely see anything anymore, they told me it would come back. »
A caregiver takes care of Patrick (who did not wish to give his last name), suffering from dengue fever, at the tropical and infectious diseases unit (UMIT) of Cayenne hospital, in Guyana, on February 20 2024. Jérémie LUSSEAU FOR “THE WORLD”
At UMIT, between thirty and forty patients are seen every day in the two medical offices opened to deal with the epidemic. “We have a lot of cases, the patients are exhausted, some take three weeks to recover, it puts the whole of Guyana on edge”, explains Laureen Dahuron, young infectious disease doctor. Dengue fever is a viral infection transmitted locally by mosquitoes. Temples of the Egyptians. On February 15, Public Health France (SPF) counted nearly 13,000 cases “clinically suggestive” in Guyana, including more than 6,600 proven cases since the start of the epidemic a year ago, with an acceleration since January 1: in a month and a half, almost half of the clinically suggestive cases have been recorded and 60% of proven cases.
A very tired young woman is also waiting to be seen by a doctor. “It’s painful all over my body, I have difficulty standing, I feel dizzy when I bend downexplains Arlène, mother of four children. I have a baby to take care of, it’s not easy. »
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A caregiver takes blood from a 73-year-old patient, from Macouria, who has contracted dengue fever. At Cayenne hospital, February 20, 2024. JÉRÉMIE LUSSEAU FOR “THE WORLD” Professor Félix Djossou, head of UMIT. At the Cayenne hospital, February 20, 2024. Jérémie LUSSEAU FOR “LE MONDE”
“This dengue epidemic is the most intense in the last twenty yearsanalyzes Tiphanie Succo, head of SPF in Guyana. Mid-2023, it was located mainly in Kourou [dans le nord], but now it concerns the entire territory. » While in most cases dengue is limited to mild symptoms, it can cause high fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, with recovery lasting up to two weeks. In rare cases, it takes a severe, potentially fatal hemorrhagic form: by reducing platelets in the blood, which allow coagulation, it can lead to multiple hemorrhages. Since the start of the epidemic, there have been four deaths of people who tested positive for dengue, and 190 hospitalizations at Cayenne hospital, including 116 since January 1.
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