(Barbados Today) The Pan American Health Organization representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries, Dr. Yitades Gebre, is urging ministries of health and other sectors to scale up efforts to prevent the occurrence of severe Dengue Fever outbreaks in the region.
“Since the start of the rainy season, increased dengue activity above the seasonal threshold has been reported from the islands of Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and recently from Grenada,” Dr. Gebre reported.
“The French Department territories Martinique, Guadeloupe and Saint Barthelemy, continue to experience high level of transmission and hospital admissions. In the majority of the cases, children under 15 years have been affected disproportionately and have sought hospital admission for severe Dengue.”
Saint Lucia has recorded 237 cases to date, compared to 20 cases in 2019, with 29 percent of the total cases being admitted to the hospital. Children under the age of 15 account
for 38 percent of admissions.
Martinique recorded 1800-2000 cases and 5 deaths, with children accounting for 23 percent of hospital admissions. In Guadeloupe, there were 590 suspected dengue cases in the last three weeks.
