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Since there has been a proliferation of dengue cases in several provinces of Argentina, Mundo Sano addresses the residents in the areas currently at risk and seeks their collaboration with the local authorities in the tasks of eliminating water-filled containers and clearing the land in households' neighboring areas in order to prevent the disease-vector mosquito from breeding.
Likewise, organizations, institutions and any citizens can access our web page link http://www.mundosano.org/publicaciones/material.php where there are posters and leaflets on the issue of dengue that can be downloaded for use in prevention campaigns.
Recommendations:
- Eliminate or adequately dispose of containers or pots that could store water where mosquitoes can lay their eggs (junk, plastic containers, unused tired, etc.)
- Change water in pets' water pots at least every three days, and wash them with a sponge.
- Keep swimming pools either clean with chlorine or empty after the summer season.
- Clear the land in yards and clear rain gutters if they are clogged.
- Apply insect repellent over exposed skin, and also spray over the clothes, since mosquitoes can bite through some thin fabrics.
- Wear long sleeves and pants.
- Put up screens in windows and doors so that mosquitoes are prevented from getting indoors.
- Immediately consult your physician if you have a sudden onset of fever, or other symptoms such as rash or red spots on the skin, bleeding through the nose or gums, frequent vomiting, blood vomiting, black stools, drowsiness, constant crying, abdominal pain, excessive thirst (dry mouth sensation), cold, pale, clammy skin, or breathing difficulty.
About the disease
Dengue is a viral disease transmitted by the bite of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, its main vector. It transports the virus from an infected person to a susceptible one. There are four varieties (sorotypes): Den-1, Den-2, Den-3 and Den-4. Infection with any of them causes dengue fever (DF) or the classic dengue-with benign and self-limited characteristics-, and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF)- with a more severe evolution that can be fatal, taking place when a person that suffered from dengue is infected by a different serotype of the virus.
Dengue's first symptom is a sudden onset of fever, accompanied by a variety of unspecific other signs and symptoms: headache, reduced appetite, nausea and vomiting, muscle and joint pains, rashes and hemorrhages.
In the most severe cases of the disease, apart from the previous symptoms, a sudden fall in blood pressure (hypotension), a diminishment in peripheral blood circulation (clammy skin) and hemorrhagic manifestations at several levels appear.
Prevention
Since there is no vaccine against dengue, all preventive actions are aimed at detecting and controlling mosquito populations. These actions can be tackled from two view-points: direct actions by means of the chemical or biological control of immature stages as well as by spraying all spaces for the control of adults; and indirect actions by means of the modification of their environment, that will subsequently lead to the elimination or reduction of the number of breeding spots available for their proliferation.
Dengue: a world public health issue
According to surveys and reports by the World Health Organization (WHO), Dengue is a world public health issue of growing concern. It affects an important strip along tropical and subtropical regions in the world, which has changed during recent decades due to global warming, thus favoring the mosquito's presence in less tropical areas.
Approximately 40% of overall world population is currently at risk, with dengue or hemorrhagic dengue outbreaks taking place in more than a hundred countries. Fifty million annual dengue cases at world level have been estimated; 500,000 people were hospitalized, and approximately 20,000 have dead.
In Latin America, dengue is basically an urban disease whose transmission is related to high population density, unplanned settlements and urbanizations, and high housing densities.
Dengue situation in Argentina
Argentina, by 1916, was free from the disease after the last outbreak that had taken place in 1916. In 1964, eradication of Aedes aegypti was certified after the continental campaign carried out to control urban yellow fever. Nevertheless, since no permanent vectoral surveillance and control policy was kept, dengue reemerged at the beginning of 1998 in the province of Salta, with records of DEN2 serotype presence in San Martin department. This epidemic outbreak was centered in the city of Tartagal, affecting 66% of the population there (data from the post-epidemic serological survey). During 1999, 10 imported cases were recorded in the provinces of Salta, Misiones, Corrientes, Chaco, Formosa, Santa Fe, Catamarca, La Pampa, Mendoza, La Rioja, Jujuy, Tucumán and Buenos Aires.
Currently, the vector mosquito is present in more than 500 districts in the Argentina's center, northwest and northeast areas. In same cases, the density is worrying, ranking Argentina in the category of disease-transmission countries. The latter is worsened by deteriorating living conditions and the lack of access to drinking water for vast areas of the population, prompting the use of containers for water storage, usually without much preventive measures tending to avoid mosquito breeding spots from proliferating.
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