Ministry of Health Monitoring Dengue Cases in the Region

Marvin Manzanero

There are four stereotypes of dengue in Belize; strains two and three are the more predominant ones being detected. The goal is to prevent a severe case of the disease, which occurs when a person previously affected by dengue is re-infected.  The Ministry of Health is also monitoring the region, where there have been a number of mortalities as a result of the dengue spread. Doctor Manzanero says that persons showing symptoms must seek medical attention early.

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services

“We have been monitoring also what’s happening in the region. We know of the rates that were going up in Quintana Roo. We now see the reports coming out of Guatemala. I think last week, they reported twenty-seven deaths; eighteen of those being in the paediatric population. We are seeing what’s happening in Honduras that’s close to thirty thousand cases. Nicaragua and El Salvador going through the same situation. So dengue is cyclical so we had anticipated it was going to happen. It is how do you go about and ensure that you can cut the transmission rate. So this is a collective effort. We are also not testing everybody that is coming in with fever and rash; we are assuming that that’s a clinical case of dengue and we are labelling it as such. We are not testing everybody; there are many suspicious cases. It is not that one strain is more violent that the other because in order for you to have a more severe form of dengue, you would have had a previous case of dengue before. So it is when you get a second or third re-infection that you can have a more serious or severe form of dengue. I don’t have the data in terms of who is showing up with severe forms of dengue. But also people need to ensure that they are seeking early attention because if you start auto-medicating then you can have more risk of having a severe form of dengue.”

The last time there was a death as a result of dengue in Belize was five years ago.