He dengue In recent days it became a endemic disease that puts the entire population at risk. The main cause is the marked climate change, due to greater humidity and increased temperatures.
The figure is alarming. More than 60 thousand positive cases in the current season, whose greatest focus of infection was registered in 26 municipalities of the province of Buenos Aires, where the epidemiological outbreak of the disease caused by the mosquito Aedes aegypti exploded in a native way. Without a response from the Minister of Health of the Nation, Mario Russo, and with a non-existent national prevention campaign, the population faces its health as best it can.
Mapping
Regarding this serious situation, Aníbal Aristizábal, emergency specialist at the Fiorito Hospital in Avellaneda, explains: “The cases that we have been addressing in recent days are autochthonous dengue cases, that is, they are not imported from people who came from Misiones, Formosa or Brazil. . They are from patients who did not travel anywhere in the last 20 days and that they were also not in contact with anyone who has traveled. “Simply that they developed the symptom and it was confirmed that they had dengue.”
It is worth noting that dengue was a seasonal disease that reached its peak in summer and humid periods, while they were almost non-existent during the rest of the year. However, recently, as had never happened in Argentina, cases occurred during the winter, which shows that the disease is becoming endemic and is here to stay. This is due to climate change that expands the spectrum of life, survival and reproduction of the mosquito vector. Aedes aegypti.
According to the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health, out of 135 municipalities analyzed, 26 are those that are in critical condition of circulation indigenous viral dengue and chikungunya fever. Among those who have Red alert They are: Bahía Blanca, Pilar, San Isidro, Tigre, Vicente López, Avellaneda, Lanús, Quilmes, La Matanza and La Plata, among others.
“We are having a very high number of cases in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, both in the Autonomous City and in the first cordons of the Buenos Aires suburbsto the point that in some hospitals we are making diagnoses directly through the symptoms and the geographical area where the patient lives and we act accordingly with the asymptomatic treatment protocol with paracetamol and isolation with mosquito nets, repellent and the entire anti-dengue system,” Aristizábal details for NOTICIAS during a break from his busy activity at the private clinic where he works on his second shift.
official voice
The Buenos Aires Minister of Health Nicholas Kreplak, faced with these indices that remind us of the early days of Covid 19, stated without giving many details to the press: “This virus is going to remain in the Province until the temperatures drop. We know that it is missing and that it is going to get worse, but we are prepared to face the situation.”
Symptoms to look out for are fever greater than 38 degrees, headache behind the eyes, nausea and/or vomiting, intense tiredness, appearance of spots on the skin, severe itching and bleeding from the nose and/or gums. Although it is also suggested that in the presence of persistent fever you go immediately to the health center closest to your home.
The cold numbers alarm the scientific and medical community, but the Ministry of Health of the Nation does not echo them. In the province there have already been eight deaths and at the national level more than 30, while Those infected reach more than 40 thousand. More than 4,700 cases were recorded during February alone, 654.33% more than in the same period last year. And in total, including January and February, the increase in infections reaches 2,546% of cases throughout the country.
In relation to the deceased, it was confirmed that the first case recorded was of a native nature, a 48-year-old man residing in the Esteban Echeverría District, who after ten days hospitalized suffered cardiac arrest due to multiple organ failure. The second, a 44-year-old woman from the town of Moreno, and the third, a 35-year-old woman from Florencio Varela who was treated on February 21 with confirmed dengue and died the next day. And the last case about which information was given corresponds to an 8-year-old girl from Lanús, who was admitted with strong symptoms and died three days later.
Faced with this dramatic situation, the Ministry of Health of the Nation dispensed – since its new authorities took office last December – with the figure of an epidemiological director. The one who takes care of these tasks as best he can today is the Undersecretary of Epidemiological Surveillance, Information and Health Statistics, Federico Pedernera. When consulted by NOTICIAS about their preventive actions with public campaigns, those offices acknowledged that they limit themselves to communicating everything on social networks, through their X and Instagram accounts, where they have 600 thousand and 11 thousand followers respectively.
Care
To prevent its spread, the population is recommended to empty any container that can accumulate stagnant water (buckets, flower pots, old tires), apply repellents, wear clothing that covers most of the body and reduce outdoor activity, but the key of prevention are vaccines.
Although his own Kreplak announced that the dengue vaccine is being administered free of charge In some provinces in the north of the country, the truth is that the Ministry of Health of the Nation did not issue comments about its incorporation into the national vaccination schedule. Therefore, in the rest of the country, whoever wants to be vaccinated, with a medical prescription, will be able to receive the two doses, the value of which is $71,293 each, which must be applied with an interval of three months. This vaccine is contraindicated for children under four years of age, pregnant women, breastfeeding women and immunocompromised people.
Faced with this emergency situation, the possibility of a health collapse, as happened during the pandemic, is once again worrying. Faced with such a panorama, Aristizabal anticipates: “We are facing a delicate situation but for now the health personnel are working normally., without overtime or lack of supplies. But we have already experienced these escalations and if necessary we will double our efforts. In Argentina, all health professionals know that we are always on a war footing.”
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