Peru's dengue deaths triple as climate change swells mosquito population
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[April 12, 2024]
LIMA (Reuters) - Deaths caused by the mosquito-borne dengue
disease have more than tripled in Peru so far this year, according to
data from the South American nation's government, which is redoubling
efforts to contain an epidemic that has hit poor areas the hardest.
The government of President Dina Boluarte this week said it had approved
an "emergency decree" allowing extraordinary economic measures to
bolster the plan to counter the outbreak, which experts say is
exacerbated by climate change.
Mild symptoms include nausea, rashes and body pains, while a rarer
severe form, more threatening for infants and pregnant women, can cause
internal bleeding and is potentially fatal.
Peru's health ministry said that as of Thursday, there were 117
registered deaths from dengue so far this year compared with 33 in the
same period of 2023. Suspected cases have also more than tripled to
reach some 135,000.
Health officials over recent days have carried out fumigations in poor
neighborhoods across Lima, the capital, including in cemeteries where
mosquitoes have been found to breed in the water that gathers in vases
honoring the deceased.
Experts say the figures in Peru are alarming because it shows the
ability of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which carries the disease, to
spread to areas where dengue had not previously been detected. The
highest numbers of cases were recorded in the coastal and northern parts
of the country, including Lima.
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A Ministry of Health worker talks to a resident of a settlement
before spraying insecticide to prevent dengue in Lima, Peru, March
7, 2024. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda
"The mosquito has been adapting to
climate change and is reproducing at a faster rate than in previous
years," University of Lima epidemiologist Augusto Tarazona said.
Considering respective population sizes, Tarazona said that with an
incidence rate of 330.27 cases per 100,000 people, Peru was seeing
both higher infection and mortality rates than in either Brazil or
Argentina.
"We are in a critical situation in Latin America," he said.
(Reporting by Reuters TV and Marco Aquino in Lima and Marion Giraldo
in Mexico City; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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