Catalonia has detected the first case of autochthonous dengue of the year, as confirmed by the Ministry of Health. The first case in his history was detected in 2018 and the second, in 2019 (both in Barcelona). This is the third and it is a child who was hospitalized last week in the Sant Joan de Reus University Hospital (Tarragona) for a picture of fever, headache and other related symptoms, but that has already been discharged.
the restrooms they suspected that it was dengue and analyzes confirmed the disease after the minor left the center. The child had not traveled to any tropical country and was therefore infected through the bite of a tiger mosquito. Every year there are imported cases of dengue (from people who travel abroad and get it there). Autochthonous cases are more infrequent, like this.
The infection was caused by the bite of a tiger mosquito.
Public Health has already carried out the corresponding actions to avoid the Possible contagion from other people. Specifically, you are actively seeking new cases in the places where the patient resided and in the places you have visited and entomological inspections are being carried out in the above areas to detect possible sources of transmission.
In addition, the primary and hospital care services to detect suspected cases among people who have resided or traveled to the territory where the case occurred. Finally, it has been requested to carry out delimited screenings in the detection zone for the donation of blood and its components, organs and tissues.
What is dengue?
Dengue is a viral disease which is transmitted through the bite of a tiger mosquito (‘Aedes albopictus’) or a mosquito from the yellow fever (‘Aedes aegypti’). cases can be imported (from people who have traveled to a country where the disease is highly prevalent and became infected there) or autochthonous (in people who have not traveled and who are spread through bites from a mosquito that previously bitten another infected person).
The increase in tiger mosquitoes in the Mediterranean with the temperature rise facilitates the transmission of Tropical diseases, such as dengue, which until not many years ago were confined to the countries of the southern hemisphere. It is a mild illness for most people (although in 10% of cases it gets complicated), but epidemic in Latin American countries.
27 imported cases this year
During this year and until August 7, in Catalonia they had confirmed 27 cases of dengue but all imported, according to Health. Now the first autochthonous case has been detected in Reus. Catalan hospitals see every year cases of travelers who come from abroad with dengue.
Until 2018, neither in Catalonia nor in Spain had there been cases of autochthonous dengue. “[En Catalunya] The first was detected in 2018 and another in 2019. During the pandemic it went undetected,” explain to this newspaper Rosa Benitez, assistant physician of the Infectious Diseases Service of the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital (Can Ruti, in Badalona).
She is the doctor who detected, five years ago, the first case of autochthonous dengue in Catalonia. “I remember it was a boy who barely left home. And, without leaving home, he took one tropical disease, of travelers. We gave the notice, we looked for the mosquito in the water, we try to do traceability but, in my case, it was not found where the disease came from. That is because there are patients who are very little symptomatic and spend it at home,” says Benítez.
According to Salut, in Catalonia, during the year 2022 dengue case detection increased almost to pre-pandemic levels with a total of 120 confirmed cases. they all went imported of dengue endemic geographic areas, a 76% from the Americas region.
constant “drip”
Although autochthonous dengue cases in Spain and Catalonia They are not very frequent, for a few years they have been a constant “dripping”. “We tend to think that dengue occurs only in people who have traveled and this is not the case. You may not have traveled and get infected through a tiger mosquito. That is why we must give importance when it comes to suspect it. It does not have the frequency of a covid or the flu,” explains this doctor. The symptoms They are hemorrhagic fever (bruises may appear), catarrhal symptoms, tiredness and malaise. He treatment it is symptomatic, since there are no antivirals against it.
According to Benitez, the tiger mosquito is a “vector” of dengue. The insect is already introduced throughout the Mediterranean Basin. Furthermore, the fact that travel more and more facilitates disease transmission. “The toilets must be trained [en enfermedades tropicales]. We must think that we may have autochthonous dengue because, if we don’t think about it, we don’t detect it. It is also very important control tiger mosquitoes,” says. So far, in Spain there have been no outbreaks of autochthonous dengue, but yes in france
tiger mosquitoes
Related news
The tiger mosquito was detected for the first time in Catalonia in 2004. Since then, following the same expansion model than in other countries It has spread practically throughout the entire territory. It is a invasive species from Asia. It is small in size, black in color and with White stripes. The females lay their eggs dry and on the inner wall of small containers that can contain water. The larvae are aquatic. The tiger mosquito has a short radius of action, so it is important to prevent it from finding places to breed.
In private homes, The best solution to prevent and control this insect is the suppression or neutralization of containers that contain water, making a hole in them, inverting them or changing the water weekly. In addition, this action must be complemented with a active surveillance so that these spaces do not return to being a mosquito breeding site.
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