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Dengue, the other epidemic which also strikes Reunion Island

2021-04-23T16:03:46.730Z


1,416 new cases of dengue fever and two people who died from the disease were recorded on the island between April 5 and 11.


Reunion Island is facing two epidemics: in addition to an upsurge in Covid-19 cases, dengue, a disease transmitted by mosquitoes, has been rife again since the beginning of the year.

“In Reunion, there is not only the coronavirus, there is also dengue.

There is even especially dengue ”sighs a little bitter a general practitioner installed at the Port.

This western town alone has more than 50% of the 6,188 dengue cases identified throughout the island since the start of the year.

The prefecture does not explain this concentration but said Thursday that 23 of the 24 municipalities of the island are affected by an "epidemic in the ascending phase".

In fact, 1,416 new cases of dengue and two people who died from the disease were identified in Reunion between April 5 and April 11.

Since the beginning of January, this disease has caused 694 emergency visits and 224 hospitalizations, according to health authorities.

This epidemic wave comes in the midst of an upsurge in Covid-19 cases.

Last week, 918 new cases were detected and six people died from the coronavirus.

Since the start of the epidemic on March 11, 2020, 141 patients have died from the disease, including 70 in the past six weeks.

More violent symptoms

The people of Reunion are well aware of dengue fever which, unlike Covid-19, cannot be transmitted from human to human.

It is mosquitoes that become carriers of the virus by biting sick people and then transmit it to healthy people.

The virus comes in four types, which have varying virulence.

Three of them are present in Reunion.

They have been circulating on the island since 2017, with the appearance of epidemic waves during the southern summer period (from December to April).

According to figures from the Regional Health Agency (ARS), between 2018 and 2020, more than 40,000 patients were identified - for 120,000 estimated infections - resulting in more than 1,700 hospitalizations and 42 deaths.

But this time the disease is more virulent.

Several city doctors report patients with severe forms of dengue.

Beyond fever, joint pain, loss of appetite, and chronic fatigue, eyesight can be affected.

"This is an effect that we had already observed last year but which fortunately does not have long-term consequences", notes Christine Kowalczyk, president of the Union of liberal doctors.

The virus can also affect how the liver works.

"A dangerous consequence" which can lead to "hospitalization in the event of a complication", indicates the doctor.

Reunion Islanders invited to "empty their fond'kour"

According to Professor Xavier Deparis, head of health surveillance and security at the ARS, the increase in the number of cases has a rational explanation: "You can catch dengue four times in your life since there are four serotypes of the disease" .

The majority of contaminations previously identified on the island were "type 2 or 3", the population is therefore not immune to type 1 which is the only "identified at this stage" in 2021, according to the prefecture.

Getting infected with the virus a second time results in more severe symptoms.

“It causes a stronger immune response.

As this is another serotype, the virus grows instead of being stopped, ”explains Dr Christine Kowalczyk.

To fight against these insect vectors of the virus, mosquito control actions are carried out daily by the ARS and the municipalities throughout the island. The firefighters of Reunion Island and 40 soldiers who arrived on March 31 as part of the national civil security reinforcement are also deployed to control mosquitoes. The Reunionese are invited to "empty their fond'kour (clean their garden, in Creole)" and not to throw their waste anywhere "to avoid the proliferation of insects and their larvae".

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2021-04-23

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