Health emergency declared in 59 districts of Peru due to dengue outbreak

At least 59 districts in 13 regions of Peru have been declared in sanitary emergency for 90 days due to the dengue outbreak registered during the last weeks, confirmed this Thursday by the Ministry of Health (Minsa).

The measure has been made official using a supreme decree published today in the official gazette “El Peruano”, with the purpose of “intensifying and accelerating” control interventions in the population due to the existence of outbreak situations for this disease “which represents a high risk of death”.

In this sense, authorities of the National Health Institute (INS) and other agencies will apply the control actions developed in the Action Plan presented by the Directorate for Prevention and Control of Metaxenic Diseases and Zoonoses, with contributions from the Minsa’s Dengue Technical Committee.

These will be applied in Amazonas, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Cusco, Huanuco, Ica, Junin, Lambayeque, Loreto, Madre de Dios, Piura, San Martin, and Ucayali.

Among the main axes for controlling dengue will be the active search for febrile patients, epidemiological fences to prevent the spread of cases, the care of exposed persons, and the increase of health personnel to maintain the Clinical Surveillance Units (Uviclin).

Also, to ensure diagnosis with serological and molecular tests; larval control, which includes eliminating mosquito eggs and larvae; fumigation to eradicate the adult mosquito; and to continue disseminating dengue prevention and control measures.

According to the National Center for Epidemiology, Prevention and Disease Control (CDC Peru), 11,585 cases of dengue were reported in the country in epidemiological week 6-2023, in addition to 14 confirmed deaths and four others under investigation.

The Minsa warned that if the dengue outbreak persists without reinforcing health interventions, “there is a risk that deaths will increase and cases will spread to other regions”, including Metropolitan Lima, which represents a population of more than 11 million inhabitants.

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