Panamanian Authorities Describe the Dengue Situation as Worrying

Panamanian health authorities this week described the dengue situation in the country as worrying, with the number of cases more than double the number registered last year and 32 deaths already reported.

“The number of individuals who have been exposed and developed dengue is worrying,” warned the head of the Epidemiology Department of the Ministry of Health, Blas Armien.

Armien noted that as of last week, the number of people who have contracted the disease this year exceeds 18,000, 2.5 times more than the 7,400 reported in 2023 in the same period.

He said that the provinces with the highest number of affected people are Panama, where the capital is located, the most populated in the country, Colón, with coasts on the Caribbean, and Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro, both in the western region of the country.

The official urged the population to participate in their communities in the control and clean-up measures to eradicate the breeding grounds of mosquitoes that transmit the disease, in order to prevent the continued spread of dengue.

“If the community does not participate, we will be losing this battle that we have, that is happening,” he said.

For three months, authorities have maintained a health alert in the provinces where the incidence of the disease is highest, with fumigation campaigns, cleaning of workplaces and schools, and garbage dumps, in an effort to eliminate breeding grounds for the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits dengue.