Argentine Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni Tuesday blamed the administration of Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) for “much of the problem” stemming from a spread of dengue fever in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA). Adorni spoke of a “failure” in public policies under the previous government regarding the current mosquito invasion.
Paraguay's Health Minister Julio Mazzoleni announced on Friday the latest information on the dengue fever outbreak in the country. “We want to start the conference with good news: the epidemic has slowed in the area of Asunción and Central, at this time we have not reached peak and we are currently on a plateau and we even have a tendency of a decline in most of the hospitals, stating this will be corroborated next week”.
Between July and mid-October 2017, a total of 71 suspected yellow fever cases were reported in São Paulo State, Brazil. Of these, two were confirmed, six are under investigation, and 63 were ruled out.
Brazil’s Health Ministry says 424 people have been infected with yellow fever in the largest outbreak the country has seen in years. Of those, 137 have died. An update published Thursday said that more than 900 other cases are under investigation.
Governments have been using various tools to fight the spread of the Zika virus in Latin America: fumigation, spraying of insecticides and even a plan to distribute mosquito repellents to athletes during the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The first known case of Zika virus transmission in the United States was reported in Texas on Tuesday by local health officials, who said it likely was contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite, a day after the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued travel alert for people traveling to the Caribbean and other areas that have confirmed transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
Jamaica's Ministry of Health is urging people to be more vigilant and to clean up their environment and destroy mosquito breeding sites, in light of the announcement by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) that the Zika virus has been detected in a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nation.
Following reports of suspected Zika virus in Brazil, the health ministries of several Caribbean countries have issued advisories for the mosquito borne viral disease.On Thursday, the Jamaica Health Ministry issued an epidemiological alert after the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) noted the potential spread of this arbovirus across territories where the vectors (Aedes) are present.
The Chikungunya outbreak which continues to affect thousands of Caribbean residents since it first appeared in St. Martin last year has been relatively self-limiting in the United States, due to the fact that the current strain only spreads through the Aedes egypti mosquito vector, which is uncommon on the US Eastern seaboard.