A man fumies a domain as a component of the network’s measures in the face of a dengue outbreak at a housing complex in Jakarta on April 11.
Photograph: Bay Ismoyo / AFP Getty Images
A man fumies a domain as a component of the network’s measures in the face of a dengue outbreak at a housing complex in Jakarta on April 11.
Photograph: Bay Ismoyo / AFP Getty Images
Photograph: Bay Ismoyo / AFP Getty Images
Jakarta, Indonesia (AP) – To stop the spread of coronavirus, governments have issued blockades to keep others in their homes. They reduced activities that affected, such as garbage collection. They’ve tried to protect hospitals from the influx of patients.
But the cascading effects of these restrictions also hamper efforts to cope with seasonal outbreaks of dengue fever, an incurable mosquito-borne disease also known as “fractal fever” for its painful symptoms.
Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Indonesia have faced simultaneous outbreaks of dengue and coronavirus this year. In Brazil, where there are more than 1.6 million COVID-19 infections, at least 1.1 million cases of dengue have been reported, with only about 400 deaths, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
Cases of dengue fever are likely to accumulate soon with the onset of seasonal rains in Latin American countries such as Cuba, Chile and Costa Rica, as well as in South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan.
Dengue is not fatal, however, severe cases may require hospitalization. Preventive efforts to destroy mosquito breeding sites, such as the disposal of old tyres or rubbish and other water-containing items, remain the most productive tactics to prevent the spread of the disease. But blockades in the coronavirus era and other restrictions have meant that these efforts have been reduced or prevented absolutely in many countries.
In northwestern Pakistan, plans to disinfect tire shops and markets that had dengue outbreaks in 2019 were shelved due to funds being used for the coronavirus, said Dr. Rizwan Kundi, head of the Young Doctor’s Association.
Health workers who would destroy mosquito-breeding sites in India’s capital of New Delhi are also screening people for the virus.
Having to identify thousands of virus cases has meant that dengue surveillance has suffered in many Latin American countries, added Dr. Maria Franca Tallarico, the head of health for the Americas regional office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Experts say that disrupting these prevention efforts bodes for global combat opposed to dengue fever.
The World Health Organization says 2019 was the worst year in charge for dengue cases, with each region affected, and some countries were affected for the first time.
Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that spreads dengue fever, is the highest spread in cities, and experts warn that higher urbanization and higher temperatures due to climate change mean it will continue to rise.
Experts say that while reduced means less chance of mosquitoes prynating other dengue people into carriers, the coronavirus pandemic has brought in other variables.
Staying at home, a way to stop COVID-19 outbreaks, especially in cities, poses greater dangers of dengue spread, Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) said. This is because the Aedes mosquito bites the day, and with more people staying at home, where mosquito populations are high, they are most likely to be bitten.
The impact is already visible. Singapore recorded a five-fold increase in the mosquito larvae detected in homes and common corridors of residential areas during the two-month coronavirus lockdown period, compared with the previous two months. By July 6, the total of dengue cases in Singapore was more than 15,500. The NEA says the number of cases this year is expected to exceed the 22,170 cases reported in 2013, which at the time was the largest dengue outbreak in Singapore’s history.
Oliver Brady, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene – Tropical Medicine, said Central America and the Caribbean were in great threat due to the overlapping epidemics.
Working with Latin American communities to save mosquitoes from breeding has been the most effective anti-dengue strategy in recent years, Tallarico said. But with strict movement constraints, he said they didn’t know if the measures were still in place, and “that’s the big fear for us.”
A shortage of protective equipment also means limiting the number of first responders who can check on people with fever or cough, she said.
“I’m afraid you have (many) more cases of dengueArray … however, the system’s ability to report (y) is limited,” he said.
Dengue patients want acute care, and this can lead to a “double whale” that overwhelms fitness systems, said Scott O’Neill, founder and director of the Global Mosquito Program.
“The formula for physical fitness care is already collapsing. Matrix… I don’t know what the existing health care formula (India) will look like to handle this burden,” said Dr. S.P. Kalantri, a public expert on fitness.
Global research into dengue also will be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Brady said.
At the WMP Tahija Foundation Research Laboratory in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, which has been studying dengue for years, “it became too difficult to enroll patients with the social-distancing measures,” O’Neill said. The facility is now being used as a COVID-19 testing site.
Similarly, the National Institute of Malaria Research in New Delhi has stopped all field work after it was converted into a center for validating COVID-19 testing kits, said Dr. R.C Dhiman, who studies mosquitoes and climate change.
In Bangladesh, where dengue season is just starting, the launch of a mobile app to help people report their cases was delayed by the pandemic, said Afsana Alamgir Khan, who oversees the country’s dengue program.
Experts say such disruptions by the coronavirus will only increase the risks of dengue infections.
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Ghosal reported from New Delhi. Associated Press writers Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Kathy Gannon in Islamabad and Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, contributed to this report.
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