Aníbal Vivaceta warned that it is highly possible that the disease reaches the commune in the medium term and is maintained due to its topography, but that measures can be taken to prevent and control it promptly.
Until April 15, there were 135 confirmed cases of dengue in the country, according to the Ministry of Health, all of them corresponding to people who have traveled abroad. Therefore, they are imported cases and for now, there is no dengue contagion within continental Chile.
There are specialists, such as the Buenos Aires health doctor, Aníbal Vivaceta, who warn that it is highly probable that the disease could reach Valparaíso and its surroundings, due, among other factors, to the fact that the Andes mountain range was lost as a natural barrier to prevent the mosquito-shaped mosquito that transmits dengue – Aedes aegypti – from establishing itself in the national territory.
For the epidemiologist, in Valparaíso the main problem is its topography and the accumulation of garbage in sectors such as streams. “The risk is that this mosquito reaches the place where I live. And we have a problem in Valparaíso, Viña, but much more so in Valparaíso, which is the topography. We have many hills, many streams and many irresponsible people who throw garbage into the streams. I always clarify this, it is not that the people who live in the ravines are filthy, it is that they are going to throw garbage, there are even people who pay to have garbage thrown into the ravines. In that garbage the mosquito could live and could reproduce and, then, we have an even greater risk than a flat city,” he explained.
But despite this unfavorable condition, the health doctor highlighted that the port city has the advantage of having the work and coordination maintained by the community’s health centers, the CESFAM, with neighbors and communities in their territories, accompanied and supported. by the municipal zone offices (OMZ). Health care and also the cleaning of patios and streams by the community and the municipality is a key factor in preventing the disease.
It’s a posibility
The doctor and academic from Buenos Aires stated that dengue is transmitted by the bite of the mosquito vector Aedes aegypti after biting an infected person. “For someone to be infected, there must be a mosquito with stripes, long legs, spotted white and black, that flies slowly and produces a very intense bite. And that mosquito must have bitten someone who has dengue,” he explained.
Vivaceta warns that at this point it is difficult to think that one of these mosquitoes cannot travel to other areas of the country, not only by its own flight, but also by vehicles. “This is highly probable,” he highlights, but explains that prevention measures are key, because “the fundamental thing is that people can prepare themselves with measures that are simple. And the other thing, be attentive. If you see a mosquito, first, if I can capture it with a glass, for example, capture it with a glass and report it, not destroy it, because if I destroy it it is more difficult to identify. Try to identify if there is a breeding site, ideally, have specimens of either the larva or the mosquito saved, to show to the health authority.”
Although the idea is not to generate an artificial alarm, the epidemiologist gives a hypothetical case as an example: “suppose, someone comes from the Andes, arrives here in Valparaíso, to one of the ravines, the person settles, or comes on the way to see relatives, and the female mosquito arrives and lays her eggs, she could settle in a ravine. This could happen starting tomorrow or not necessarily. I’m not saying ‘run away!’, because it’s really just a possibility. But if that possibility occurred at some point I would begin to see that there are different mosquitoes. And the idea is to quickly notify the health authority.”
