He The Ministry of Health stressed the importance of acting quickly in the event of any outbreak of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which spreads dengue.since once it manages to settle in some area “it is very difficult” to control and eradicate it.
“All Latin American countries have a presence, (but) Chile has been the exception because the geography protects us from the entry of the mosquito,” said the head of the Department of Epidemiology. Christian Garciain The Cooperative Journal.
However, he pointed out that the insect “can move with people, and we have managed to find it in small quantities and quickly control it, to prevent it from starting to live here.”
“Since last year we have intensified all surveillance measures and We have managed to find the presence of the mosquito, which moves with people, with trucks, with buses, in a couple of places in Aconcaguaand we are taking control measures to prevent him from living in our country,” he continued.
Over the weekend, the Minsal confirmed the detection of an outbreak of Aedes aegypti in the Los Andes bus terminal, Valparaíso Region.
The day before, it reported 179 cases in the country, 135 of them in continental Chile -all imported- and the rest on Easter Island, where the insect has been established for two decades: “The mosquito settled on Rapa Nui in the year 2000, and once it settles it is very difficult to eradicate it, That is why we must act preventively and actively in the places where it can enter,” he warned.
“I want to clarify that today in (mainland) Chile there is no transmission of dengue, what does exist are imported cases, (people) who have traveled to neighboring countries mainly (…) For transmission to exist within a territory, it is necessary a sick person and an important and established presence of the mosquito, and another person: the mosquito bites the sick person and then the healthy person, and they acquire the disease,” he explained, emphasizing that “We are controlling immediately to prevent the mosquito from settling and living within the territory”.
Likewise, García maintained that the confirmed cases in Chile represent “a larger number of cases than usual,” but “it is not an important number in the global context.”
“Last year more than 4.1 million cases of dengue were diagnosed in Latin America. And so far this year, there are already 3.5 million. We are in a very different situation than we have ever experienced before, and In Chile we are seeing the impact of that“he concluded.
