Dengue Fever: West tops case numbers

Of the 1277 dengue fever cases reported so far, 757 cases are in the West, 273 in the Central division, 221 in the North, and 31 in the Eastern division. This is according to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services on Friday.

A dengue fever outbreak was declared for the Western Division at the beginning of this year while all divisions have been advised to be on the alert.

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services is urging members of the public to continue to be vigilant and take the necessary measures to protect themselves and their families from dengue fever.

“The increasing dengue fever trend seen this year is expected due to the heavy rainfall and flooding experienced around country over the past months.

“The ministry is also monitoring hospital admissions from divisional and subdivisional hospitals with a noted increase in dengue fever hospital admissions reported mainly from the Western Division.

“In anticipation of the rise in dengue cases, the Ministry of health conducted outbreak response training for divisional and subdivisional teams to investigate and respond to the expected outbreak situations during the annual Divisional Outbreak Response Training from October to November, last year.”

In the past month the ministry has continued to actively respond to the increasing number of dengue fever cases through the early recognition, treatment, and referral of cases.

The ministry continues its surveillance for dengue fever, awareness and public health campaigns for source reduction and control of vectors for Dengue.

The ministry reminds members of the public to take heed of public advisories on dengue and leptospirosis.

The ministry continues to urge members of the public to learn about dengue fever, take precautions to prevent infection, and be early to a medical facility should symptoms develop.

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