While the number of dengue cases had already reached an epidemic level last February, New Caledonia is once again declared in an epidemic situation. In a press release from theAFP relayed by 20 minutes, the government of the archipelago said Thursday, December 27 that more than 100 cases in two months have been identified by the Department of Health and Social Affairs (DASS). “101 cases have been confirmed since November 1, including 58 for the first 20 days of December. Currently, 20 cases are diagnosed every week ”, he specifies.
A poorly immunized population
These are still cases of serotype 2, for which the Caledonian population has little immunity. The virus, transmitted by mosquitoes, had disappeared for about twenty in the Pacific archipelago. The last epidemic of this type of dengue in New Caledonia dates back to 1998. Due to the weather conditions favorable to the proliferation of insects, the health authorities have thus launched a “call for vigilance” from the population. They remind us that the “breeding grounds”, that is to say the places where mosquitoes lay eggs, must be destroyed near homes.
Several municipalities in New Caledonia are affected, in particular the main port city of Noumea and its suburbs. According to the deputy director of health and social affairs Jean-Paul Grangeon, interviewed by theAFP, three people are hospitalized there including one in intensive care.
In February and then in May, when dengue fever broke out later in the hot season, two people had died. The disease causes high fevers, skin rashes, headaches or joint and muscle pain, but also in rare cases serious multivisceral hemorrhages. In 2017, the epidemic had already caused 11 deaths.
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