MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

At least 50 cases of dengue confirmed in north Argentina

Argentine authorities have admitted that at least fifty cases of mosquito transmitted dengue have been reported in the northwest of the country, neighbouring with Bolivia, one of which confirmed haemorrhagic.

The majority of cases are concentrated in the province of Salta, in the area of influence of the town of Tartagal which was literally washed away by a mudslide caused by intense tropical rainfall, and devastation of the nearby forests, according to environmentalists. Among the sick in hospital there are "four patients suspected to be of the haemorrhagic variant", said on Monday the head of the Salta Epidemiology Department Alberto Gentile. Twenty eight other cases are the common dengue strain. "Dengue cases have also been reported in Catamarca (neighbouring province)", admitted Catamarca's Health Minister Juan Carlos Ferreyra, where ten cases of the weaker strain have been confirmed. "We're on a sanitary alert and have taken the necessary measures to prevent the disease from spreading, added Ferreyra. Ernesto Martinez head of the San Juan Bautista provincial hospital confirmed on Monday the number: "we have ten cases of dengue, the benign strain", but they are all isolated in a wing of the hospital, he added. However there's concern with one patient which "has all the symptoms of the haemorrhagic strain", pointed out Martinez in reference to the case reported in Salta, "and it could cause death". Besides Salta and Catamarca, regional authorities have confirmed seven cases in Jujuy, three in Santa Fe, one in Tucuman and one in Santiago del Estero, all to the north and centre of Argentina. The last epidemic of dengue in Argentina was during the first half of 2007 with 220 cases reported, but none fatal. In Bolivia to the north of Argentina, in the last few months over 20.000 cases of dengue have been reported, fifteen of which died. A national sanitary emergency has been declared and the Bolivian government has implored for foreign aid, funds and experts. To the east in Paraguay, a similar dengue situation has been reported although not as intense as in Bolivia, but with several times the cases reported so far this year in Argentina. The dengue virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, causing intense migraine, abdominal and muscular pain, fever, diarrhoea and dehydration.