Dengue nearing record numbers – WHO 

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer

July 31, 2023 – Dengue is on the rise and the region of the Americas is most affected according to the World Health Organization (WHO) with nearly THREE million suspected and confirmed cases this year.

In an update on July 19th, the WHO described the outbreaks as of ‘significant magnitude’ have been recorded regionally. The numbers seen in the first seven months already eclipse the entire year of 2022 which saw 2.8 million cases. Of the cases this year, 45 percent were lab confirmed.

The number is dangerously close to the highest year on record (2019), which saw 3.1 million cases.

Thankfully, the number of severe cases are extremely low with only 0.13 percent classified as severe dengue. The death rate is also low, recorded at 0.04 percent or 1,302 deaths. The worst affected areas remain in South America, specifically Brazil, Peru and Bolivia.

The WHO is warning however, that the regional risk of outbreak is high because of the high prevalence of the mosquitos (especially Aedes Aegypti) which are carriers.

The Turks and Caicos has already completed one round of mosquito fogging exercises this summer in an attempt to control the vectors that spread dengue fever throughout the population.

Dengue, also called break-bone fever, spreads from mosquitoes to people. The WHO says most people who get dengue won’t have symptoms. But for those that do, the most common symptoms are high fever, headache, body aches, nausea and rash.

In order to lower your risk of dengue, you must avoid mosquito bites.

Effective ways include sleeping under mosquito nets, using mosquito repellents and preventing mosquito breeding by getting rid of garbage that can facilitate standing water collection and caring for drains properly so they don’t clog.