Public health centers in the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz have been on the verge of collapse in the last week due to an accelerated increase in dengue cases, revealed this Sunday by the Ministry of Health and Sports.
The Vice Minister of Health System Management of the Ministry of Health and Sports, Alvaro Terrazas, explained to journalists that there is concern about the high cases of dengue fever in the capital of Santa Cruz (east) generated mainly by serotypes Den 2 and 3.
“Santa Cruz hospitals are on the verge of collapse due to the number of dengue cases registered in that department. Seventy-five percent of the cases are concentrated in Santa Cruz,” said the authority.
He reminded that the best way to stop the spread of this disease is through prevention measures.
The Ministry of Health surveyed hospitals and the availability of beds for managing dengue in Santa Cruz and determined that they are practically saturated.
The red alert means intensifying epidemiological surveillance, reinforcing the three levels of health, guaranteeing timely laboratory diagnosis and treatment in health services, and organizing the work of the community, which is the destruction of breeding sites and fumigation.
According to the Ministry of Health and Sports official report, released on Saturday by the Ministry of Health, Bolivia reported 3,437 cases of dengue fever in the country, of which 2,554 cases were in Santa Cruz.
To contain the outbreak, the Ministry of Health and Sports declared on January 20 an epidemiological alert throughout the country to reinforce prevention actions and strengthen the diagnosis of patients after confirming more than half a thousand cases of dengue in different Bolivian regions.
The declaration of epidemiological alert is part of the comprehensive health plan that includes prevention, containment, and mitigation strategies to control the spread of this disease.
The vice minister informed that insecticides such as perinifus methyl, biological larbicides, work clothes, information, communication, education materials, and laboratory reagents were distributed throughout the country.
Dengue is an endemic-epidemic viral disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, mainly Aedes.