Posted on 03/01/2007 7:23:49 AM PST by blam
Dengue sparks Paraguay emergency
Hospitals may not be able to cope if cases go on rising, doctors say
Paraguay has declared a 60-day state of emergency to deal with an outbreak of dengue fever which has killed at least 10 people in the past two months. Officials say 14,654 people have been diagnosed with dengue.
But doctors say the figure is 10 times higher, and are worried about a new more virulent variant of the disease.
Brazil and Bolivia have also seen a rise in cases of dengue, which is spread by mosquitoes and is endemic in much of the Americas.
Dengue fever causes severe headaches, as well as muscle and joint pain.
Protest planned
Doctors in Paraguay say that at least five of those who died were suffering from a particularly virulent variant of the disease called "gastric dengue", never seen before in the country.
DENGUE FEVER
* Transmitted by mosquitoes
* Flu-like illness
* Symptoms of the severe, flu-like illness include severe headaches, fever, rash, joint pains
* Seldom deadly, but has potentially lethal variants
* Dengue fever is found in Africa, South-east Asia and China, the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East, South and Central America, the Caribbean and Australia
* Source: WHO
Gastric dengue attacks vital organs - such as the liver, heart, lungs or brain - and can cause death within hours.
Other patients died of dengue haemorrhagic fever, a variant which can lead to enlargement of the liver, and in some cases, circulatory failure.
Doctors working in state-run hospitals are planning to hold a demonstration outside the health ministry on Friday, in protest at what they describe as government inefficiency.
Private-sector doctors have accused the authorities of underestimating the impact of the outbreak, saying official figures represent 10% of real cases.
'Not overwhelmed'
Specialists have warned that public hospitals do not have enough intensive-care capacity to cope if the number of severe cases continues to rise.
However, the National Emergency Secretary said the country's health system was not being overwhelmed by the outbreak.
Aristides Gonzalez said special brigades would target mosquito breeding-spots - such as stagnant water pools and rubbish dumps - in homes and public places.
Experts have blamed the unusually rapid spread of the disease on a higher rainfall and uncommonly warm weather, which have boosted the population of the aedes aegypti mosquito.
More rains and high temperatures are forecast for the next two months, prompting fears that the number of cases will continue to rise.
I thought Dengue fever was found only in Africa?
I caught it twice: once in Indonesia and once in El Salvador. For some reason, it is actually pretty rare across most of Africa. Both times I was on my back for the better part of a week.
ping....may be of interest.
They need DDT!
Let me be the first -
global warming?
Thanks, Joe.
You're welcome, nully!
Dengue is endemic to Mexico, and there are periodic medical watches for it in the border States.
I knew a girl who got dengue, and "flu-like" is hardly the word for it. For three weeks she was miserable with some of the most bizarre symptoms. Every joint in her body hurt and she got serious swelling around her ankles. And this, and that, and the other. About a dozen odd, unpleasant and noticeable symptoms. Very obvious.
To me, at least. Four doctors missed it, as it was in central AZ, and watch notifications had only gone to doctors in southern AZ. But I had no pre-conceived notions about what her problem might have been, so I used the Internet to figure out it was dengue. A fifth doctor confirmed my guess.
Turns out she lived in an apartment next to some railroad tracks that ran up from southern AZ. Most likely a mosquito hitched a ride.
Importantly, the first time you get dengue, it is usually this 3-week misery. But if you get it a *second* time, unpredictably, it could turn into the hemorrhagic form, like ebola, and kill you dead.
As with the other mosquito born diseases, like encephalitis and West Nile virus, they are spreading. So most likely you will be hearing more about dengue fever later.
Gee, isn't it a good thing we have a safe and effective tool like DDT to combat this?
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