MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina now denies dengue outbreak is an 'epidemic'.
“There is no such gravity,” in the current situation, said Argentine Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Director Jorge San Juan 
Earlier in the week Health Minister Jorge Lemus said there was “an epidemic” of dengue fever in the most severely affected provinces of Misiones and Formosa Even as the number of new cases of dengue fever continued to rise in Argentina, the Health Ministry performed a rapid about-face and disavowed a statement made on Wednesday that the outbreak constituted “an epidemic.”
During an interview on Radio 10, the Argentine Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Director Jorge San Juan refuted Health Minister Jorge Lemus’ statement earlier in the week that there was “an epidemic” of dengue fever in the most severely affected provinces of Misiones and Formosa in the tropical north east of the country.
“There is no such gravity,” in the current situation, he said, highlighting the number of confirmed cases of the disease which remained at just over 1,100 for the entire country.
San Juan pointed out that current outbreak was no more severe in its development than in previous years, with the present stage of the virus remaining stable — there has not been reports of evolution of the disease into the more severe strains of the virus, such as dengue hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome, which can both be life-threatening.
Nonetheless, the current rise in dengue cases over recent weeks classifies the outbreak as the worst to hit Argentina since 2009, when a total of 27,943 were infected and five people died.
Seven new cases were confirmed in Buenos Aires City on Thursday.
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Read all commentsThe Health Minister needs to get the country an Epidemiology Director who is prepared to face facts and carry out the necessary control of these flying health risks.
Jan 23rd, 2016 - 11:03 am 0He may be correct about the numbers but what about the new risk, especially to pregnant women and their unborn children: does he even KNOW about that?
I knew this was likely and said so in the other blog.
“Argentina now denies dengue outbreak is an 'epidemic' ”
Jan 23rd, 2016 - 02:20 pm 0--- Argentina has a lot of experience with denial.
The gov't doesn't spray for mosquitos. I had to hire a private company to do my yard/woods once a month to keep in under control.
Jan 23rd, 2016 - 03:24 pm 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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