There are 118 cases of dengue confirmed in Belize - spread across 12 villages in the Cayo District, 6 villages in the Corozal District and in Belize and Belmopan cities. 118 qualifies as an outbreak because it is 5 times the average of 20 cases that are reported from year to year. The cases first started appearing at the start of June and passed the safe mark of 20 at mid-June. But, somehow, authorities were not aware that it was an outbreak until last week. Today Director of Health Services, Dr. Errol Vanzie discussed the outbreak and what you can do to contain it.
Dr. Errol Vanzie, Director of Health Services
"Because of the spread, the fact that we had cases about 12 villages in the Cayo District, about 6 villages in Corozal and in Belize City, the potential exists for this to spread countrywide to all the districts and to have a major outbreak. And so because of that then we call on the population, the public, to assist us to complement what we are doing in the Ministry of Health to control the situation by eliminating all potential breeding sites."
Jules Vasquez,
When you have dengue what are the symptoms and what are the real health risks?
Dr. Errol Vanzie,
"We have two types of dengue, classical dengue which is a flu like syndrome. It is self-limiting in the sense that it comes and goes through its course and within 3 to 4 days it disappears by itself. The symptoms are usually pain, generalized pain, especially in the joints, muscle ache, pain behind the eye which is very specific to dengue, and a high percentage of the people will manifest rash.
If we eliminate the breeding sites and through the fogging we kill the adult mosquitoes that are already affected, then we interrupt the transmission. That does not mean that we will not have anymore cases because there are cases that are incubating that have not shown symptoms yet. And even after we've eliminated the mosquitoes, at least for a week we will still continue to have new cases."
Jules Vasquez,
So but in the meantime, the best all of us in our private residences and home can do is to make sure there is no mosquito breeding areas?
Dr. Errol Vanzie,
"Exactly. Just go out there and take 15 to 20 minutes and pick up any can, any shell, any container that could hold water."
As we suspected, Vanzie confirmed that mosquito spraying efforts in the Belize District have been limited because one of the two trucks re-assigned to spray the most populous district is out of commission. Still, Ministry of Health teams have been dispatched to the field, particularly in the Cayo District, to eliminate breeding grounds for mosquito larvae.