Guadeloupe has passed “into an epidemic phase for dengue fever” with a rare serotype which could cause “a high number of cases”, according to an official press release released on the evening of Thursday November 14 calling for everything possible to “minimize” the impact of the disease. Meeting during the day, the management committee chaired by the regional prefect recorded “the transition to the epidemic phase for dengue”, specifies this joint press release from the prefecture, the association of mayors of Guadeloupe and theRegional Health Agency of Guadeloupe and the Northern Islands.
The authorities are launching “a call for the mobilization of all actors involved” in the fight “to try to minimize the impact of this disease” in the weeks to come. This year, “a serotype of the dengue virus which has circulated little over the last twenty years”, DENV3, makes the authorities fear “risks of serious form” and “a high number of cases” if “resolute control actions or prevention are not implemented”, according to the press release. Among 62 samples analyzed between the end of September and mid-October, “97% are DENV3”, according to the latest bulletin from Public Health France.
The number of clinical cases doubled in October
The seasonal threshold for clinical cases (80 weekly cases) is largely exceeded. At the end of October, it was estimated at 540 in community medicine, more than double than in September. At the hospital, Public Health France noted last month “on average 40 weekly visits to the emergency room for suspected dengue fever, compared to 25 in September”.
The joint statement from the authorities recalled that it was “essential” to fight against stagnant water which allows the larvae of the disease vector, the mosquito, to develop. These stagnant waters are often “located around or in homes” and may have been “fed by recent heavy rains”, underlines the press release. The authorities also recommend “wearing loose, covering clothing”, the use of “an approved repellent product” and the use of pre-impregnated mosquito nets.
The territory is also facing the emergence of a new type of mosquito “highly competent to transmit all arboviruses (Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika)”, according to a press release published at the end of October from the Community and the Health Agency. These Aedes Albopictus larvae were spotted for the first time in the Lorient district, in Saint-Barthélémy, in the north of Guadeloupe, it was specified. Dengue fever, which can cause high fever, body aches and fatigue, is a potentially fatal infectious disease.