Fearing that “explosive” outbreaks of dengue will occur this year, Oaxaca Health Services (SSO) changed its prevention plan to one of containment.
The risk of contagion is concentrated in 18 localities in 17 municipalities, but the main concern is centered in Oaxaca de Juárez, which belongs to the jurisdiction of the Central Valleys, where 30 percent of the 67 cases registered during the year are concentrated.
“Of the 67 confirmed cases the first place was Valles Centrales, if there were to be an increase of cases in the municipality of Oaxaca de Juarez, it would be very complicated because it is a very large area,” warned the Chief of the Department of Prevention, Jorge Concha Suárez.
Until the epidemiological week number 20 that closed on May 23, in Oaxaca there were 922 probable cases, of which 679 were discarded, 176 are missing for analysis and 67 have been confirmed by laboratory.
Of these 67, the majority, that is, 35 correspond to non-serious, 15 of which were reported in the Central Valleys, 2 in the Isthmus, 3 in Tuxtepec, 7 in the Coast, 2 in the Sierra, 6 of foreigners, people who visited Oaxaca and were diagnosed when they returned to their state of origin, such as the State of Mexico and Morelos.
Dengue fever with alarm signs totals 27, more than half in the jurisdiction of the Isthmus with 15 cases, the Coast with 7, 3 in the Central Valleys and 2 in Tuxtepec.
The other five cases correspond to severe dengue, of which two were reported in the jurisdiction of Valles Centrales, another two in the Coast and one in the Isthmus, but so far no death has occurred.
The Isthmus, the Coast, and Tuxtepec are endemic areas of dengue, of which there are four serotypes, but in Oaxaca, only two circulate type, types one and two. The disease is transmitted through mosquitos that reproduce easily in a container with standing water.
“We are moving from a prevention issue to one of containment because there has been an increase in cases by 115 percent and 200 percent in the likely ones,” Suárez explained.
When a case is discarded it is because “they do not comply with the description”: fever greater than 39 degrees, headache, muscle pain and malaise in general.
Being a cyclical disease that in Oaxaca has not caused explosive outbreaks in the last five years, it is feared that with the arrival of the rains in 2019 the increase in cases may be even greater, “depending on whether the population was previously exposed to the disease”.
Suárez stressed, ” people must understand the importance of basic sanitation of housing, which at the same time will help take care of the environment,” eliminating pots and kennels, as well as covering containers where water accumulates.