Valley Health Authorities Reiterate Call to Prevent Dengue Spread due to Climate Change

Santiago de Cali, June 7, 2023. The call to avoid stagnant water in wells, sinks, and other containers that can generate the proliferation of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the transmitter of dengue, is still valid. This is reiterated by the health authorities in the face of constant climate change.

The Secretary of Health of the Valley, María Cristina Lesmes, recalled that dengue is a common disease in the department that has had an erratic behavior in the last three years, “without an outbreak as we have historically had, this as a consequence of the rains . As it rains hard, it washes away the mosquito breeding sites and the disease stops being transmitted, but we are entering a dry period that will increase the reproduction of the mosquito in our immediate environment”.

For this reason, he recommends, “do not have stagnant water, do not have objects in the garden or near your house where water can be collected to prevent the mosquito from reproducing, as it likes to lay its eggs in clean water.”

The official specified that there is no dengue epidemic outbreak in the department, although there is an increase in cases, with 674 registered, and it is important to differentiate dengue from the respiratory disease. “Dengue causes pain in the body, fever, general malaise, the pit of the stomach hurts, if bleeding gums occur in a child, they probably have dengue and should see a doctor, they should be treated hospitally,” she added.

From the Ministry of Health, actions are carried out to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito, including fumigation that seeks to end the circulation of the adult mosquito, which is the one that bites and transmits the disease, and the pilot plan that is being carried out to infect mosquitoes. with the Wolbachia bacterium that prevents the transmission of the disease.

Leidy Oliveros Múnera
Journalist Gobernación del Valle