| | |  Health & Beauty 
Jalisco Reports 48 Dengue Deaths for 2009
 PVNN
May 03, 2010
Though between 1989 and 2009, the Jalisco Health Department did not 'officially' report any deaths from dengue fever, this year dengue is in the news again and beginning to make its presence felt in the Mexican state of Jalisco, as reported in a recent article by the Guadalajara Reporter staff:
| Not for the first time in the past 12 months, Jalisco health officials are in damage limitation mode after test results from a federal laboratory revealed that 48 people died last year from hemorrhagic dengue, instead of just one officially reported victim.
While Jalisco Health Secretary Alfonso Petersen stopped short of saying the deaths could have been prevented, he admitted that "a lack of knowledge" among health professionals may have contributed to the high number of fatalities.
Jalisco subsequently jumped to the top of Mexico’s dengue fatality table, way ahead of Morelos with 16 deaths and Guerrero with 11. Remarkably, Jalisco now registers 50 percent of all dengue deaths in 2009 but more results are expected from other states.
Petersen, who took over as the state’s health supremo after the sacking of Alfonso Gutierrez in September last year, said the diagnosis of patients was complicated since many had other health complaints, such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
Between 1989 and 2009, the Jalisco Health Department refused to acknowledge any deaths from dengue, despite the protestations of some who claimed the government was trying to avoid bad publicity and protect the tourism sector. Petersen now admits there were fatalities during this period, perhaps as many as ten per year.
The first official acknowledgement of a death from dengue in the past decade came in September last year, at the height of the epidemic. Vanesa Robles, a 23-year-old woman from Guadalajara, was given four different diagnoses – typhoid, brucellosis, salmonella and gastroenteritis – before she died. The doctor attending her received the results of the dengue analysis only after she had died.
Thirty-nine of the 48 deaths reported this week were in the Guadalajara metropolitan area – two each in Puerto Vallarta, Tala and Ameca, and one each in El Salto and Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos. More than two-thirds of those who died were women. Sixty-five percent passed away in facilities of the Instituto Mexicana de Seguro Social (IMSS), 15 percent in private hospitals and the rest in public health institutions, including Guadalajara’s Hospitales Civiles.
The official (laboratory tested) total of dengue cases in 2009 was 4,919 (4,102 classic and 817 hemorrhagic), although Petersen said that as many as 50,000 people could have been infected by the mosquito-borne virus.
Experts have been contacted to provide immediate training to doctors in Jalisco on the diagnosis and treatment of hemorrhagic dengue. The first training session for 300 medics took place in Guadalajara on Thursday.
According to the World Health Organization, medical care by physicians and nurses experienced with the effects and progression of hemorrhagic dengue fever can frequently save lives – decreasing mortality rates from more than 20 percent to less than one percent. Maintenance of the patient’s circulating fluid volume is the central feature of this care.
Petersen told citizens not to be worried that more cases of dengue have been registered so far this year compared to 2009 – 367. He credited the increase to more efficient detection and diagnosis.
Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a potentially deadly complication that is characterized by high fever, often with enlargement of the liver, and in severe cases circulatory failure. The illness often begins with a sudden rise in temperature accompanied by facial flush and other flu-like symptoms. The fever usually continues for two to seven days and can be as high as 41°C, possibly with convulsions and other complications.
In moderate cases, all signs and symptoms abate after the fever subsides. In severe cases, the patient’s condition may suddenly deteriorate after a few days of fever; the temperature drops, followed by signs of circulatory failure, and the patient may rapidly go into a critical state of shock and die within 12 to 24 hours, or quickly recover following appropriate treatment. |
|
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us