8 month dengue toll close to total for previous 17 years

 Panama’s dengue epidemic  has registered almost as many cases in the  first 8 months of 2011 as in the previous 17 years says the Ministry of Health. (MoH).

On Monday, 24 new suspected cases of hemorrhagic dengue and the death of a 47-year-old in the  Social Security Hospital (CSS)were announced. 

The MoH reported that samples of tissue from the patient who lived in San Miguelito, were sent to the Gorgas Memorial Institute for testing.

Twenty-six people are currently hospitalized, four in intensive care. The others are stable and under medical observation.

The MoH reports that to date 16 cases of hemorrhagic dengue have been confirmed, of whom four have died: two in San Miguelito, one in Panama City and one in Panama in Bocas del Toro. THey  are awaiting the results of post motem investigations of two other patients. 

 Reports from the MoH Department of Epidemiology show that in the first eight months of the year there have been 84 suspected dengue cases and four deaths. Between 1993 and 2010, 98 cases were identified.

Health Minister Franklin Vergara, ordered intensified fumigation  in the country’s 14 health regions to  eliminate breeding sites of  the mosquito that transmits dengue.

He called on private companies to use  their rolling stock to clean vacant lots, draina of land and collect garbage in  parks cemeteries, beaches, rivers, tourist and recreation sites.

Health officials have renewed their call to people with symptoms to avoid self-medication and go to the nearest health facility in case of high fever, aching muscles, joints, head, eyes and abdomen.