With more provinces in which new cases are being detected, Chikungunya fever displaced dengue in this season of mosquito-borne diseases Aedes aegypti: There are outbreaks declared in the north of the country – with the epicenter in Salvador Mazza, Salta – and the province of Buenos Aires. There are ten jurisdictions that, with the confirmations of the last few hours, already exceed the 199 cases updated at the national level just a day ago and with a rapid weekly increase in the notification of infections without travel history, that is, autochthonous.
At the same time, there are 28 confirmed cases of dengue, although with “an increase in the notification of probable cases” in recent weeks, as officially indicated.
Today, the Ministry of Health of the Nation reported that, “recently, the reintroduction of the chikungunya fever virus in the national territory“. It was by urging the health system to carry out an “exhaustive study” of patients who are consulting for fever, muscle or joint pain, headache, vomiting and general weakness in order to identify this “change in viral circulation pattern” with respect to other seasons.
The jurisdiction with the most cases continues to be Saltawhich since January has registered an outbreak associated with imports from Bolivia, with the epicenter remaining in the border area of the towns of Salvador Mazza and Yacuiba. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) had warned since the beginning of the year about “an important circulation in the central-west and southeast of Brazil and southern Bolivia.” Since then, confirmed and probable cases in Salta have now reached 334, almost a hundred more positive cases than a week ago, according to data updated today by the General Directorate of Epidemiological Coordination of the provincial Ministry of Public Health.
The affected departments are San Martín (most cases correspond to Salvador Mazza), Orán (Aguas Blancas and San Ramón de la Nueva Orán), Anta, Salta capital, Cerrillos, Rosario de Lerma and Rosario de la Frontera. “The 43% increase that we observed is due, to a large extent, to the mobilization of people due to the long holiday. The flow of people to areas with active circulation and the subsequent return to their homes facilitates the dispersion of the virus,” said Francisco García Campos, director of Epidemiology of Salta, in updating the figures.
From the provincial health portfolio, they indicated that there are “binational operations” in the border area. “Specifically, in Salvador Mazza-Yacuiba and Aguas Blancas-Bermejo, where Epidemiological surveillance and vector control are coordinated with Bolivia jointly through the active search for people with fever and focal blockade with biolarvicides,” they detailed. In Anta, meanwhile, notification and criteria for clinical suspicion had to be reinforced in Joaquín V. González, El Quebrachal, Las Lajitas and Apolinario Saravia, in addition to debris removal tasks to eliminate breeding sites in the Aedes aegypti and be able to interrupt indigenous vector transmission.
The Buenos Aires Ministry of Health had issued last week an epidemiological alert due to the detection of seven cases of chikungunya fever in a neighborhood in the town of Ingeniero Budge, in Lomas de Zamora. They all lived around the home of a woman who, in the first week of March, had tested positive for the infection when she consulted for symptoms at a hospital in the city of Buenos Aires. None had recently traveled to areas with cases of dengue or chikungunya fever. “In the area, imported cases had already been identified [de viajeros provenientes de Bolivia y Cuba] that explain the introduction [viral]”, then released the health portfolio of the province of Buenos Aires.
So far this season, which for these diseases runs from July to July of each year, the district had confirmed until last week 13 of the 110 Buenos Aires residents who consulted at a health center, along with two others considered probable and 23 still unconfirmed or ruled out. On the other hand, of the more than 1,400 cases reported for dengue, 12 were confirmed, of which six were travelers who arrived from Paraguay, Mexico, Indonesia or Brazil, and there are more than 500 with clinical suspicion, still undefined. “There are no dengue outbreaks recorded,” reported Provincial Health.
Jujuy and Catamarcaaccording to the national Ministry of Health, were the last two districts to report cases without travel history (autochthonous), in addition to Santiago del Estero. “In recent days, six new cases of chikungunya were confirmed, so a total of 18 infected people are registered in the province, with stable symptoms, mild to moderate manifestations, without hospitalization requirement and under permanent monitoring,” the Jujuy Ministry of Health updated today. They correspond to Aguas Calientes, Caimancito, Yuto, Perico and San Salvador. In Catamarca, the first case detected was on March 10 and, since then, there have been three other confirmations in the provincial capital and Valle Viejo, as reported so far. In Yerba Buena, Tucumán, two other positives were detected when 30% of the samples from patients with a negative result for dengue were analyzed for chikungunya, a laboratory surveillance strategy that was implemented in the country since last January given the outbreak in Salta from imported cases.
In the national report, Chaco It also appears with one probable native case among 158 notified as suspected for chikungunya, while the city of Buenos Aires registers three cases in travelers. The Municipality of Córdoba reported two weeks ago the confirmation of the first indigenous case of the infection: it was in a 16-year-old teenager who consulted at the Italian Hospital in that city. In Saint LouisMeanwhile, there was an imported case in February, with no further information to date.
“This increase occurs in a regional context of alert due to the sustained increase in cases in the Americas and the resumption of indigenous transmission in various areas of the region,” stated the national health portfolio.
Health authorities, especially in jurisdictions with confirmed cases, are recommending that the population eliminate possible breeding sites (empty, turn over or get rid of any object that accumulates water (cans, tires, bottles, vases), keep patios or the back of houses clean, place mosquito nets or similar fabrics on doors, windows or to protect cribs or baby strollers, in addition to using repellent according to the application indication on the packaging and clothing that covers arms. and legs.
