Carolina Gomez Mena
The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, August 11, 2024, p. 10
There is a country major epidemic
dengue, said Ricardo Cortés Alcalá, director of the National Center for Preventive Programs and Disease Control (Cenaprece), who detailed that the virus is present in 28 of the 32 states of the country.
The latest data from the Ministry of Health (Ssa) indicate that up to epidemiological week 31, 30,951 cases of dengue were confirmed. Last year, in the same period, there were 8,291.
In an interview, he stated that, precisely in the week before students return to school, as part of the 2024 National Public Health Day, a campaign will be carried out to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds in the country’s schools. This viral disease is transmitted by the bite of a mosquito. Aedes Aegypti.
In this regard, Ruy López Ridaura, Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion of the Ssa, stated that There are reported cases in about 800 municipalities, we have entities with higher peaks, that is why we are prioritizing actions in nine entities, including Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacán; we have a major outbreak in Campeche, which is under control, another one starting in Jalisco and in Guanajuato, Colima and Nayarit
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He explained to The Day that We established a federal operation and coordination command with the state commands because this year a larger outbreak is expected than last year, which was already large.
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Cortés Alcalá added that the elimination of breeding sites in the schools is Very important so that children and adolescents do not get sick at school
during their return to school.
The epidemiologist stressed that this year There are many more cases, and what we are seeing is an advance in the season. This can be bad because we can have a much wider curve (of infections)
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Celso Ramos García, a researcher in Medical Sciences at the National Institute of Public Health, commented that the increase in cases compared to last year increased by almost 300 percent for the same date and that they were also being detected since the first weeks of the first half of 2024.
He added that We are facing a very important risk situation in most of the states of the Republic.
which is why he stressed the importance of Cenaprece carrying out a campaign from August 19 to 23 to keep school yards clean and check that there is no water stored inappropriately. The female mosquito lays its eggs in clean water, usually in houses, schools or units. Sometimes the liquid is not covered.
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He also warned about the possibility that In dengue endemic areas, cases with mixed infections between dengue, SARS CoV-2 or even influenza could occur.
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Cortés Alcalá said that the symptoms are fever and pain behind or in the eyes, in muscles, joints and bones, while the warning signs are very intense abdominal pain, uncontrollable vomiting and petechiae (little red dots on the skin).
