Honduras: Hemorrahic dengue deaths more than quadruple last years

Total Deaths 2010: 56. Contracted hemorrhagic type: 1,099
Total Deaths 2009: 12 Contracted hemorrhagic type: 438

8/14/2010

TEGUCIGALPA – Deaths from hemorrhagic dengue in Honduras increased to 56 after one more victim was confirmed, the Health Ministry said Saturday.

The latest victim was in addition to the 12 fatalities reported Friday and recorded in the hospital of the Honduran Social Security Institute in Tegucigalpa, an official of the National Dengue Certification Commission of the Health Ministry told reporters.

There were 13 fatalities recorded last week, but not until this week did the commission certify that hemorrhagic dengue was the cause of death.

The number of people taken ill with non-lethal classic dengue so far this year remains at 39,613, while some 1,099 people have been infected with hemorrhagic dengue, of whom 56 have died, according to public health records.

The greatest incidence of patients with dengue is in Tegucigalpa and the surrounding area, while the northern region is the second most affected by the epidemic.

Public health authorities have indicated a slight trend toward fewer cases of dengue, though the number of deaths from the hemorrhagic type continues to rise.

President Porfirio Lobo’s government launched in July a national campaign, in which he involved public and private institutions, to stop dengue from spreading, but many of the affected sectors complain because of what they consider an ineffective public health crusade.

Public health authorities believe that the constant rains are another adverse factor in the campaign against dengue, which in 2009 caused the deaths of 12 people infected with the hemorrhagic form of the disease.

According to public health records for 2009, some 438 people contracted hemorrhagic dengue, while the classic type affected close to 13,000.