Central America faces time bomb due to double threat of dengue and coronavirus
Central America faces a time bomb with the growing cases of dengue, which rebound in the rainy season that begins now, while its health systems remain on alert for the expansion of the new coronavirus.
The region has so far in 2020 more than 23,000 cases of dengue and at least 22 deaths. Last year, the same disease left 255 dead of the nearly 192 thousand infected.
Meanwhile, Covid-19, which has plagued the entire world, registers more than 8,300 infections and 260 deaths in the six countries of Central America, mostly in Panama, with more than 6,000 cases.
Honduras also shows a high case fatality rate for the new coronavirus, with more than 60 deaths in more than 700 cases.
Most Central American countries have taken drastic measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, with actions including quarantines and border closures.
Honduras registers so far this year about 11,000 hospitalized and nine deaths from dengue, and is the most hit on the isthmus by the disease spread by the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti), which in 2019 left 180 dead in 113 thousand patients in the country.
Last year, at least 30 public hospitals in Honduras collapsed due to the saturation of dengue patients, although the influx has decreased so far in 2020, according to medical sources.
"The number of dengue fever cases has decreased but we always remain in the alarm zone," said Valeska Mejía, chief of nursing at the Roberto Suazo Córdova hospital in the community of La Paz, 40 kilometers north of Tegucigalpa.
That hospital with 124 beds had to enable the chapel and corridors to house those admitted for dengue last year, which causes fever, nausea, skin rash, general weakness and muscle and headache pain.
In its hemorrhagic version it can be fatal.
With a population of 46,000 inhabitants, the community of La Paz registers two people infected with the new coronavirus, but they have not required hospitalization.
This year El Salvador already registers six deaths from dengue in almost 3,900 cases, while 2019 closed with 14 deaths in 6,000 hospitalized.
Last year, in Guatemala, 40 people died in 50,600 cases of dengue and so far in 2020, five patients have died in 3,300 affected.
Costa Rica records a total of 1,760 cases of dengue in 2020, against 9,400 last year, while Panama has two deaths and 2,300 infected this year, compared to five deaths and 9,200 cases in 2019.
Health authorities guide the population to avoid accumulating water in abandoned buckets, cans, bottles, vases or tires, which may become breeding grounds for the mosquito vector of the disease.
Meanwhile, Covid-19, which has plagued the entire world, registers more than 8,300 infections and 260 deaths in the six countries of Central America, mostly in Panama, with more than 6,000 cases.
Honduras also shows a high case fatality rate for the new coronavirus, with more than 60 deaths in more than 700 cases.
Most Central American countries have taken drastic measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, with actions including quarantines and border closures.
Honduras registers so far this year about 11,000 hospitalized and nine deaths from dengue, and is the most hit on the isthmus by the disease spread by the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti), which in 2019 left 180 dead in 113 thousand patients in the country.
Last year, at least 30 public hospitals in Honduras collapsed due to the saturation of dengue patients, although the influx has decreased so far in 2020, according to medical sources.
"The number of dengue fever cases has decreased but we always remain in the alarm zone," said Valeska Mejía, chief of nursing at the Roberto Suazo Córdova hospital in the community of La Paz, 40 kilometers north of Tegucigalpa.
That hospital with 124 beds had to enable the chapel and corridors to house those admitted for dengue last year, which causes fever, nausea, skin rash, general weakness and muscle and headache pain.
In its hemorrhagic version it can be fatal.
With a population of 46,000 inhabitants, the community of La Paz registers two people infected with the new coronavirus, but they have not required hospitalization.
This year El Salvador already registers six deaths from dengue in almost 3,900 cases, while 2019 closed with 14 deaths in 6,000 hospitalized.
Last year, in Guatemala, 40 people died in 50,600 cases of dengue and so far in 2020, five patients have died in 3,300 affected.
Costa Rica records a total of 1,760 cases of dengue in 2020, against 9,400 last year, while Panama has two deaths and 2,300 infected this year, compared to five deaths and 9,200 cases in 2019.
Health authorities guide the population to avoid accumulating water in abandoned buckets, cans, bottles, vases or tires, which may become breeding grounds for the mosquito vector of the disease.