4,877 dengue cases so far this year surpass all of 2021

The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported 4,887 accumulated cases of dengue up to  September 3 an increase of 2,728 over the figure for the whole of last year.

There have been two deaths: one registered in San Miguelito, at the beginning of the year, and another of a 6-year-old girl, in West Panama, on Wednesday, September 7.

The head of the Department of Epidemiology of the Minsa, Lourdes Moreno, said that it is important that despite all the efforts that the vector control team and health promotion and education have been making, the most important thing, is that each person check their environment (home, work, and school) to see what containers can function as water collectors and, become mosquito breeding sites.

“Inside the house, the screens, windows and doors must be cleaned, as well as changing the water in vases, dishes, pots, and pets’ drinking bowls, and outside the house, the water containers must be well covered; roof gutters, saucers, and plants with stems that collect water.”

In 11 of the 15 regions, the two circulating serotypes have been identified: DENV1 (Panama metro, Los Santos, Darién, Panama north, Panama west, San Miguelito, and Chiriquí) and DENV2 (Guna Yala, Panama east, Panama north, Panama metro, San Miguelito, Herrera, Los Santos and Coclé), that is, there are regions with the circulation of both identified dengue serotypes, which could cause an increase in severe cases.