Confirmed 20 cases of dengue fever in Misiones and 50 other febrile images under study

Earlier this week, the Integrated Bulletin of Epidemiology of the National Secretariat of Health placed Puerto Iguazú as one of five zones with "localized transmission of dengue."

In this line, the Ministry of Public Health of the province ratified yesterday that the City of Waterfalls represents the point that more positive cases have concentrated since the end of last year until now.

The director of Epidemiology of the provincial health portfolio, Jorge Gutiérrez, confirmed in dialogue with Acá Contamos por Radioactiva that there were 20 cases of patients with the virus transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti in all the Missions. Just under a month ago, the number of positives reached five in the province, according to official information.

The official, on the other hand, stressed that there are 50 cases under study and already 160 are discarded, "so it is still very dynamic, because if we stretch the numbers were more than 200 cases investigated in the province."

In addition, Gutiérrez pointed out that confirmed cases in the city of the Falls are concentrated in the periphery such as the neighborhoods Las Orquídeas, Hermoso and the Ecological Range. "There are confirmations of new cases in the province, in fact it is fortunately a little less than we expected, but I expected it to increase because we had many suspects in the study and this was confirmed during the week."

"In principle, somehow, the good news is that they are all DEN 1, so, in fact, is circulating throughout the province, as throughout the country the same serotype, as last season. of Puerto Iguazú concentrated mainly on the outskirts of the city, then there are some more in the rest of the province, but there are very few, "said the expert.

Then the director of Epidemiology explained, "When it is suspect, blockages are made immediately, regardless of the fact that after it is negative, we can not wait for the official confirmation to begin making the movements." A suspect appears because some professionals thought that this disease could be treated, then the blockade is done and that is why there are several agents in different places of the province, whether the confirmation given or not. "

"In the provincial capital there are several suspect cases and we are awaiting confirmation. In general, it is expected that in private health centers in any laboratory may appear positive, but is actually confirmed by the Public Health laboratory, we are the only ones who can confirm So what the private ones do is to pass the result to the patient and then send us the sample, usually they are informed that they will consult with the Collective Health and we corroborate. Often there are differences and that is why we insist on this confirmation with the province's laboratory, "he said.

Continuous work

The Secretary of Health of the Nation in its Integrated Bulletin of Epidemiological Surveillance confirmed on February 25 that Puerto Iguazú is located as one of five areas with transmission of dengue; In this respect, Gutiérrez considered that it is taken as theoretical because the work with the municipality and the provincial authorities follows in the same way: "Probably important, but for us it is not a change because we work with the interrotífero period and already started with pre- boarder, activities are carried out constantly, that is, for us it does not represent any change in terms of the way of working. "
"Normally, for the different tasks of the Ministry, what we do is that every weekend there is a recount and that's what is passed on to the media. In general, as there has not been much movement is being done in this way," he said.

Key recommendations

"In principle, what should be done is that all the recommendations we have made to prevent larvae and mosquitoes is to strengthen the same line, keep working and always try to keep the yards clean," the official said.

"We know that we are going to have cases, not just in Posadas, everything that will be in March and certainly will decrease in the Holy Week dates. We predict that there are cases that have arisen in the last weeks and what we ask the neighbors is always the question of "I must continue to search for containers with liquids and discard them, take care of the subject of the garbage and continue with the guard up because the cases of dengue will continue to have," he said.