Blog Post 11: Dengue cases and deaths

This week’s article takes place in a different region than my articles in the past. The article focuses on an recent epidemic in Bolivia with cases of Dengue. Recently there was 47 dead and the area that is most affected is the Amazon. So far this year there have been 26, 675 cases of death just in this region.  The article also mentions that 60% of these deaths were teenagers and children. The writer places the cause of this epidemic on the rainy season.

                The Dengue problem in Bolivia didn’t just arrive this year, it actually began in 2009. Dengue is in fever form and is an infection carried by mosquitoes. This mosquito in particular is a female Aedes. The World Health Organization stated that 2/5 of the world’s population is at risk of contracting this infection.  This infection is also the leading cause in death of children in Asian countries. The disease is most often found in tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world.  There is no treatment for this disease but with adequate medical attention, death can be prevented. I see a huge problem with this however. There needs to be a more global demand to come up with treatment for this infection especially when it affects 2/5 of the whole world’s population. What about the people who can’t afford proper healthcare to prevent dying from the disease? It isn’t fair to anyone to have to die when it can be avoided. As of right now the only control or prevention of this infection is to keep out the disease carrying mosquitoes. The mosquitoes that typically carry the disease also tend to breed in man-made containers or objects that can collect rainwater, especially things like used tires that are shipped around the world to be used by different regions. The things that can be done is carefully examine containers being shipped across seas. WHO proposed the Integrated Vector Control that include five elements which essentially want social movement so that people know about the infection and are protected coupled with collaboration between health and other sectors. 

http://healthmap.org/en/

http://beta.promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20111110.235038
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs117/en/index.html