Dengue on the Rise in Northern Belize

The number of cases of persons infected with dengue fever continues to rise in the northern districts.  According to Director of Health Services, Dr. Marvin Manzanero the spike in new cases is most prevalent on Orange and Corozal, while Belize and Toledo districts exhibit the least number of cases.  As of Saturday, the Ministry of Health reported as many as nine hundred and fifty cases of confirmed dengue countrywide, with only two fatalities from the aggregate sum of infections. The ministry says it is ramping up its efforts in the north.

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services

Dr. Marvin Manzanero

“We have been trying, well as of yesterday, we started now on a more, asking regions to have a more routine, random check.  So that means that we are picking up a census everyday, morning and evening to see how many cases we have in the hospital setting.  So we run statistical reviews every week, so our week ended last week Saturday.  Up to last week Saturday we had nine hundred and fifty confirmed dengue cases in the country which means people have gotten a test that has documented that they are positive for dengue and we also had eight hundred and fourteen of what we call clinical suspect cases which mean people who have all the signs and symptoms of dengue but who don’t necessarily have a dengue test that goes along with it.  Also understand that since we are in the outbreak phase of dengue we don’t really screen everybody for dengue.  So if you are coming from an area that has been having dengue, your family, your brothers and sisters and you have the signs and symptoms we’re going to classify you as a dengue case.  So that total amount up until Saturday was one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-four cases.”