Dengue cases still climbing

DENGUE cases continue to climb in Panama, reaching 1,421 on Thursday, of which 13 are dangerous, and 124 are serious in spite of an ongoing campaign to reduce mosquito breeding sites.
The death toll during the current epidemic remains at 13, six in January and seven in the closing weeks of 2013.
Ministry of Health (MoH) Director Carlos Galvez said that statistics will be updated daily to monitor the course of the disease

Both Galvezand the director of the Metropolitan Health Region, Jorge Hassan, complained about the lack of community collaboration to end the breeding of the Aedes aegypti mosquito which carries and transmits dengue
Meanwhile the National Economic Council approved $ 1.5 million to strengthen the work of elimination of breeding sites in Panama City, Arriajan, San Miguelito and Panama West .
The Tourism manager Salamon Shamah, who wants to cap reporting on dengue, because it allegedly hurts tourism has had over $2 million approved for Panama City Carnaval.