Dengue cases continue to shoot higher

A total of 593 suspected cases were reported during the most recent week tabulated (July 2-8), which is more than 400 cases above the epidemic threshold for the period and well ahead of the 417 cases reported a week prior, according to Health Secretary Lorenzo González.

The Health Department has been stepping up efforts to curb the outbreak, and has now turned to the Internet through a Facebook page aimed at spreading the word on how to guard against the virus and providing updates on its toll.

While the total number of cases has continued to surge higher, the incidence of hemorrhagic dengue cases has held at 25 for several weeks, with five fatalities registered from the most serious strain of the virus this year, according to Health Department statistics.

The municipalities with the highest incident during the most recent week reported were: Arecibo, Hatillo, Camuy, Quebradillas, Patillas, Guaynabo and Juncos.

“We continue meeting with mayors of the most affected towns and we will be going door to door in the most-affected communities starting next week as part of our ongoing educational campaign,” González said in a statement.

He reiterated a host of preventive measures including using insect repellent with at least 20% DEET, wearing light-colored, long-sleeved clothing, spraying insecticide inside closets and under beds, and eradicating standing water than can serve as breeding grounds for the aedes aegypti mosquito, the species that carries dengue.

The Health Department chief urged parents to cover cribs with mosquito netting and to leave fans and air conditioners on to repel mosquitoes from flying in those areas.

Some 250 computer users have logged in as “friends” of the Health Department’s Facebook page, which includes information on dengue and the AH1N1 (swine flu) virus.

“This new avenue allows us to reach groups that we may not have been able to attract through traditional media such as newspapers, radio and TV, but who do use the Internet,” González said.

The island Health Department has stepped up its public service campaign imploring Puerto Rico residents to take steps to stop the spread of dengue including getting rid of mosquito breeding grounds and the importance of using bug repellent.

Another front will be opened through the Education Department and the Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corp. as students prepare to head back to class after the summer break.

Dengue fever is reaching epidemic stages across the Caribbean, with dozens of deaths reported and health authorities concerned it could get much worse as the rainy season advances.

The increase in cases is being blamed on warm weather and an unusually early rainy season, which has produced an explosion of mosquitoes. Health officials say the flood of cases is straining the region’s hospitals.

González has warned the epidemic, which was declared in February well ahead of the normal high season, is shaping up as the worst in a decade.

In the Dominican Republic, where at least 27 deaths have been reported, hundreds of health workers and soldiers are going door-to-door to warn about the virus and destroy mosquito breeding areas.

Hospitals in Trinidad are running out of beds.

“We are having a really large epidemic,” said Kay Tomashek, epidemiology section chief of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s dengue branch in Puerto Rico.

At least five people have died in Puerto Rico, and another 6,300 suspected cases have been reported as of mid-July, she told The Associated Press.

Only 100 more cases were reported during the same period in 1998, which marked the island’s worst dengue outbreak. By the end of that year, the virus had sickened 17,000 and killed 19 people.

In Trinidad, officials added 15 beds to the San Fernando General Hospital earlier this month. They also opened a dengue clinic to follow up on patients who are being discharged quickly to free up more beds. At least one death has been reported.

Dr. Anton Cumberbatch, chief medical officer of the island’s health ministry, said he is worried that the number of deaths and cases of the more severe hemorrhagic dengue will increase this year.

The Dominican Republic is grappling with the same problem.

French Guiana, Guadeloupe and St. Martin also have registered a high number of dengue cases, and more than 16,700 total cases had been reported across the Caribbean through early June, according to the latest statistics available from the Pan American Health Organization.

There are four types of dengue, and all cause fever, headaches and extreme joint and muscle pain. Most victims recover within a week, and while they become immune to the specific type of dengue they caught, they are still vulnerable to other types, Tomashek said.

Health officials fear the virus, which had once disappeared from the United States, also could gain a foothold there.

While test results for a suspected dengue case in the Miami area came back negative this week, a recent study found five percent of Key West residents show evidence they have been exposed to the virus.