The Ministry of Health (Minsa) minimized a dengue outbreak in 2022 that, in total, caused some 12,162 hospitalizations throughout Nicaragua, the second highest figure in the last five years, only behind the 32,598 hospital admissions reported in 2019, for that disease.
The Minsa admitted in the recently updated Health Map that they confirmed 4,532 cases, nine times more than those reported in 2021 and three times more than in 2020. They also informed the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) that, in 2022, there were 97,541 suspected cases.
This number of suspected cases placed Nicaragua as the country with the highest incidence reported in 2022. The rate per 10,000 inhabitants indicates that there were 140 infections, 30 more than those reported in Brazil, the American country that, in recent years, has reported the highest incidence rate.
The Minsa’s response to this outbreak focused on fumigation and abatement days in the neighborhoods. Likewise, in the implementation of radio cartoons in the official media, on ways to prevent the disease, but without declaring any health alert.
The vice president and government spokesperson, Rosario Murillo, limited herself to informing in her Monday interventions —when a brief epidemiological update was read— that “they were fighting dengue through fumigation”.
Dengue cases persist in 2023
In Central America, a total of 169,969 cases of dengue were reported. 57% of these were registered in Nicaragua, 14% in Honduras and 9% in El Salvador.
PAHO has reported that, in the first two months of 2023, the Minsa has reported 13,187 suspected cases of dengue. Nine times more than Honduras and Panama; and 37 times more than Costa Rica.
Until now, the incidence in the Americas per 100,000 inhabitants is only surpassed by Bolivia, which reports a rate of 252. Nicaragua is in second place with 187, followed by Belize with 156 and Brazil with 111.
The Minsa has not yet published any epidemiological bulletin for 2023 that allows knowing the progress of the epidemics.
Managua leads hospitalizations
Managua was the department that reported the highest number of hospitalizations in 2022, due to dengue fever, with 2,453 cases, according to a manual review of the 19 Silais in the country.
This department is followed by Chinandega with 1494; then Granada with 1,282 hospitalizations; Matagalpa with 1,210 discharges; Estelí with 1027; and Nueva Segovia with 962. In the rest of Silais the number of hospitalized was less than 900.
Hospitalized for dengue fever are reported in Carazo, Jinotega, Rivas, Boaco, the South Caribbean and Río San Juan.
Dengue infections occur through the bite of an infected mosquito. The contagion causes from a mild fever to a disabling fever, headache, pain behind the eyes, in the muscles and joints.
In more serious cases, it causes difficulty breathing and damage to the organs, details the PAHO. In 2022, 35 infections of this type were reported in Nicaragua: 23 of these in Managua; three in Chinandega; two in Granada: two in León; and one in Masaya, Nueva Segovia, Madriz, León, Estelí and Boaco. So far in 2023, two serious cases have been recorded in Managua.
Contagions prevail throughout the country
Dengue is an epidemic that cannot be eradicated, but its incidence can be controlled and reduced, because the Aedes Aegypti transmitting mosquito is highly adapted to domestic life, and the Latin American region provides the socioeconomic, environmental and climatic conditions to favor its proliferation. of the Aedes.
Dr. Marcos Espinal, PAHO official explained to CONFIDENCIAL that after each outbreak there is a decrease in cases and it is expected that these peaks of infections occur every three or five years. In Nicaragua, the last peak —which led to the declaration of a yellow alert by the Minsa— occurred in 2019, when there were 186,173 suspected cases and more than 10,000 hospitalizations.
That is why the 2022 outbreak was foreseeable. According to the Health Map, the departments with the highest number of suspected cases were Managua with 19,197, followed by León with 11,370, Granada with 9,309, and Masaya with 8,196.
An important outbreak was also reported in Chinandega, in total there were 7,765 suspected cases and the main cause of hospitalizations in that department was dengue fever: 1,494 hospitalized.
In Matagalpa there was also a major outbreak, 5,833 infections were reported and 1,210 hospitalized.
In the Caribbean, which is already dealing with the malaria epidemic, a significant number of dengue infections are also reported. In the Silais de Bilwi and Las Minas, 5,280 cases were registered. Meanwhile, in the South Caribbean, 3,335 infections and 661 hospitalizations were reported.
