The Guatemalan government declared a national epidemiological alert on Thursday to prevent dengue, which has left three dead and nearly 7,000 cases so far this year.
The alert was decreed “due to the beginning of the season when dengue transmission increases in the country,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.
This resolution “establishes actions such as epidemiological surveillance, so it orders the application of protocols for detection, notification and registration of cases in hospitals and health areas”.
“In Guatemala, until February 17 there are 6,760 dengue cases registered. Of this total, 31 cases of severe dengue are reported, of which 3 have died,” the ministry specified.
According to the note, the global incidence of dengue has increased considerably in the last two decades and Latin America is the region that registers 80% of the world’s cases.
Last year dengue left 118 dead and some 65,000 cases in Guatemala, a historical maximum that exceeds the 2019 record when there were more than 50,000 cases, according to official statistics.
Dengue is an endemic disease of tropical areas that causes high fevers, headaches, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and, in the most serious cases, hemorrhages that can cause death.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned in April 2023 that dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases are spreading much more and further due to the effects of climate change.
