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Jamaica Confirms Dengue Deaths As The Island Announces Epidemic

Jamaica's Health Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton, is appealing to parents to ensure that their children are vaccinated against measles, especially because of the recent increase in cases in the United States and across the region.

Jamaica Confirms Dengue Deaths As The Island Announces Epidemic

KINGSTON, Jamaica, January 4, 2019 (CMC) – Jamaica has confirmed two dengue-related deaths, for the period January to December, last year, as it announced that the virus had surpassed the epidemic threshold for December.

Health Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton, told a news conference that the latest figures from the Epidemiological Unit indicate that 123 dengue case reports, including suspected, presumed and confirmed cases, were received for the month of December.

“This exceeded the outbreak threshold of 96 cases for December, and is the first month for 2018, in which the number of cases exceeded the outbreak threshold,” he said.

“This has been a more active season than last year, and we have been observing and monitoring the numbers and increases with each month, but by the clinical standards, could only claim an epidemic once the threshold is surpassed,” Tufton said, adding that the Ministry of Health is allocating an additional J$250 million to support enhanced measures to contain the spread of the dengue fever virus.

Tufton told reporters that there were seven suspected and two confirmed cases of dengue-related deaths for the period, January to December 2018, and that a total of 830 reported cases have been classified as suspected, presumed or confirmed, as at January 3, this year.

The number of confirmed cases stands at 23 for the period January 1, 2018 to January 3, 2019, with the capital, Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine, Westmoreland, and St. Ann having the highest reported cases of the dengue virus.

Tufton said the Ministry has already put a number of measures in place, in anticipation of an outbreak of the virus, and these include increased fogging in 300 communities with clusters of dengue cases.

The Enhanced Vector Control (EVC) program has been extended to March 2019, to include the employment of an additional 500 temporary workers, who will join the effort to identify and eliminate mosquito-breeding sites.

Dengue fever is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito, infected with a dengue virus. Symptoms, which usually begin four to six days after infection and last for up to 10 days, may include sudden, high fever; severe headaches; pain behind the eyes; severe joint and muscle pain; fatigue and nausea.


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