Whoever keeps the evolution of Covid in mind will remember that, just as at the beginning it was important to reconstruct the step by step of each contagion (that is, the epidemiological link), there was a moment when, due to the scale of the epidemic, a new criterion was
assumed epidemiological
: in the presence of certain symptoms,
the patient would be considered “positive”
.
Something similar is happening with
dengue
in the city of Buenos Aires, as a result of the rise in infections in recent weeks.
The Buenos Aires Ministry of Health made a decision that particularly impacts the population of the
Mataderos neighborhood, where there is an outbreak of dengue
: as long as they are not at risk, patients who arrive at the guard with a picture compatible with this virus (which transmits the
Aedes aegypti
mosquito
)
, will receive a
positive dengue diagnosis
, without going through any diagnostic test.
It should be clarified that
self-diagnosis is not encouraged
: dengue suspects are expected to go to the guard, where they should be evaluated for cross-febrile symptoms with a clinical examination and, in addition, with a complete blood count, which should be repeated in 48 to 72 hours. later, as part of routine disease control.
What is happening in Mataderos is far from being coincidental: together with Liniers and Parque Avellaneda they make up commune 9, an area in which
42% of the 2,260 cases of dengue
detected in the city of Buenos Aires since July 2022 occurred. part.
In dialogue with
Clarín
,
Cecilia González Lebrero
, operational manager of the Epidemiology area of the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health, assured that this change is a common practice and clarified that other similar ones cannot be ruled out in the face of
infections that arise in other neighborhoods in the coming weeks
.
“If it is going to expand to other areas?
We are seeing how it is moving and, based on that, if we are certain that there is an area with a clear circulation of dengue, we are going to evaluate it," he said, adding: "We hope that with the actions that are being adopted we can control the issue, but from the experience we have from other years,
we assume that the areas will be expanded.
We hope there won't be many more."
González Lebrero assured that these modifications in the way of diagnosing are made "whenever there is this type of presentation in a particular area."
What are those kinds of "presentations"?
Basically,
the rise in infections in a small geographical radius
: “The number of cases that we are seeing in Mataderos justifies that we stop testing.
We had a very high percentage of positivity and this is a way to speed up the definitive diagnosis, without collapsing the laboratories of the system”.
(news in development)
ACE
