Puerto Rico has declared a public well being emergency as a consequence of a surging variety of dengue instances.Puerto Rico Secretary of Well being Carlos Mellado stated the well being division has registered 549 instances of dengue to date this 12 months, far exceeding historic numbers.”Our groups have been engaged on an built-in plan for prevention and management in response to arboviruses and we’re going to broaden the response carried out,” Mellado stated in an announcement, noting that the declaration will enable extra sources that may strengthen surveillance and case administration applications.Dengue is the commonest mosquito-borne virus worldwide. Greater than 400 million persons are contaminated yearly. It spreads primarily by way of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can also be recognized to hold a number of different viruses equivalent to yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika.The virus is endemic in additional than 100 international locations in tropical and subtropical climates, largely in city and semi-urban areas, based on the World Well being Group — and within the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.About 1 in 4 individuals contaminated with dengue may have signs, together with fever, nausea, vomiting, rash and physique aches – usually muscle, joint or bone ache or behind the eyes.Extreme dengue is much less widespread, however the signs can embrace shock and inside bleeding. About 40,000 individuals die from extreme dengue all over the world every year, based on the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.Associated video above: Genetically modified mosquitoes launched in Brazil to combat dengueHealth officers in Puerto Rico are urging individuals to make use of insect repellent and remove doable mosquito breeding websites by stopping water from accumulating.”It is usually important to put on clothes that covers uncovered pores and skin and take into account putting in mosquito nets on beds and wire mesh on doorways and home windows,” Mellado stated.Within the U.S., there’s a dengue vaccine for kids ages 9 to 16 who’ve laboratory-confirmed proof of a earlier dengue an infection and who stay in areas the place dengue is endemic, together with Puerto Rico. There isn’t a dengue vaccine out there for adults in the usDengue outbreaks happen sometimes within the continental United States; final 12 months, a number of instances have been reported in Florida. However most instances are reported in Puerto Rico, Dr. Gabriela Paz-Bailey, chief of the Dengue Department within the Division of Vector-Borne Ailments on the DCC, informed CNN final 12 months.”It has the proper local weather for it. It is a tropical island,” Paz-Bailey stated. “There are certainly efforts from the well being division and different organizations just like the Puerto Rico vector management unit to manage dengue within the space.”Local weather change may even encourage the unfold of dengue all over the world, Paz-Bailey stated.”Larger temperatures will in all probability broaden the vary of locations the place a mosquito can survive,” she stated. “After which it may additionally facilitate transmission by different methods, like sooner viral replication within the mosquito and elevated survival of mosquitoes.”CNN’s Jamie Gumbrecht contributed to this report.
Puerto Rico has declared a public well being emergency as a consequence of a surging variety of dengue instances.Puerto Rico Secretary of Well being Carlos Mellado stated the well being division has registered 549 instances of dengue to date this 12 months, far exceeding historic numbers.
“Our groups have been engaged on an built-in plan for prevention and management in response to arboviruses and we’re going to broaden the response carried out,” Mellado stated in an announcement, noting that the declaration will enable extra sources that may strengthen surveillance and case administration applications.Dengue is the commonest mosquito-borne virus worldwide. Greater than 400 million persons are contaminated yearly. It spreads primarily by way of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can also be recognized to hold a number of different viruses equivalent to yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika.The virus is endemic in additional than 100 international locations in tropical and subtropical climates, largely in city and semi-urban areas, based on the World Well being Group — and within the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.About 1 in 4 individuals contaminated with dengue may have signs, together with fever, nausea, vomiting, rash and physique aches – usually muscle, joint or bone ache or behind the eyes.
Extreme dengue is much less widespread, however the signs can embrace shock and inside bleeding. About 40,000 individuals die from extreme dengue all over the world every year, based on the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
Associated video above: Genetically modified mosquitoes launched in Brazil to combat dengueHealth officers in Puerto Rico are urging individuals to make use of insect repellent and remove doable mosquito breeding websites by stopping water from accumulating.”It is usually important to put on clothes that covers uncovered pores and skin and take into account putting in mosquito nets on beds and wire mesh on doorways and home windows,” Mellado stated.Within the U.S., there’s a dengue vaccine for kids ages 9 to 16 who’ve laboratory-confirmed proof of a earlier dengue an infection and who stay in areas the place dengue is endemic, together with Puerto Rico. There isn’t a dengue vaccine out there for adults in the usDengue outbreaks happen sometimes within the continental United States; final 12 months, a number of instances have been reported in Florida. However most instances are reported in Puerto Rico, Dr. Gabriela Paz-Bailey, chief of the Dengue Department within the Division of Vector-Borne Ailments on the DCC, informed CNN final 12 months.”It has the proper local weather for it. It is a tropical island,” Paz-Bailey stated. “There are certainly efforts from the well being division and different organizations just like the Puerto Rico vector management unit to manage dengue within the space.”Local weather change may even encourage the unfold of dengue all over the world, Paz-Bailey stated.”Larger temperatures will in all probability broaden the vary of locations the place a mosquito can survive,” she stated. “After which it may additionally facilitate transmission by different methods, like sooner viral replication within the mosquito and elevated survival of mosquitoes.”CNN’s Jamie Gumbrecht contributed to this report.