The head of Health Surveillance of Honduras pointed out that there are another 25 in study of deaths under investigation.
Honduras counts at least 20 deaths from dengue and more than 30,000 suspected cases of contagion so far this year, the worst records in Central America, while the authorities extreme measures against the mosquito transmitter of the disease, the Ministry of Health reported Monday.
The head of Health Surveillance of Honduras, Lorenzo Pavón, told the AFP that “the suspicious cases from January to June [are] 30,009.” In addition, there are “20 confirmed deaths” and another 25 under study, he added.
A year earlier, in 2023, Honduras recorded 31 deaths and more than 27,000 cases, according to official sources. The worst year for that country was 2019, with 180 dead and 113,000 sick.
Honduras is the Central American country that has recorded the most dengue deaths so far this year, followed by Guatemala (13) and Panama (12), according to the latest available figures from those governments. Health agencies in Costa Rica and Nicaragua have not reported fatalities.
Due to the rapid advance of the disease transmitted by the mosquito “Aedes aegypti” led the Honduran authorities to declare “maximum alert” to intensify the combat of that vector.
Pavón indicated that officials, supported by security forces, began to apply a product that ends the mosquito larvae in the containers with stagnant water and to fumigate homes.
It should be remembered that dengue is an endemic disease in tropical areas that causes high fevers, headaches, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and, in the most severe cases, bleeding that can cause death.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in April 2023 that dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases spread much more because of climate change.
This article has been translated after first appearing in El Salvador