SNS reports 332 hospitalizations due to dengue fever in Greater Santo Domingo and Monte Plata alone

The Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, affirmed this Monday that, with the broad intervention carried out this weekend, in which volunteers from the different State institutions integrated into the “Action Cabinet against Dengue” participated, nearly 2.3 million people were impacted throughout the national territory with the operations of cleaning, fumigation and delivery of chlorine and abate (insecticide) for the prevention and control of the virus transmitted by the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

Rivera said that 334 thousand houses were fumigated in 478 sectors nationwide.

“We always visit where the cases appear, but on this occasion, we visited and fumigated areas where there were no reported cases,” he said about the advantage of mobilizing in unison throughout the provinces.

Lowering the mosquito population
On his side, the Vice-Minister of Collective Health, Eladio Pérez, assured that these massive fumigations “will help us significantly reduce the vector population. Therefore, we will have a much more abrupt decrease in the next weeks.”

The epidemiologist indicated that in Hermanas Mirabal, the border area, Samaná, and Higüey, “the minimum number of cases” of dengue fever are reported, contrary to Santo Domingo North, Santo Domingo East, National District, and Santiago, which have been the main centers.

Perez valued the confirmation of the Cabinet to intensify the plans against the reproduction of the mosquito.

“The fact that the president (Luis Abinader) is coming to support us is extremely opportune, since, at a time when the situation is practically stabilized, to come and give that last blow is going to enhance all the consequences that will come in chain by that intervention,” he said when interviewed on television.

He recalled that dengue serotype 3 is the most abundant and has not circulated in the country since 2019.

“This leads to a population being vulnerable and also leads to greater severity,” he added.

Emergencies continue to be complete; SNS says cases are decreasing
View of the Emergency Room of the Hugo Mendoza Hospital (DANIA ACEVEDO).

Despite the preventive actions, the emergencies of the pediatric hospitals were still full on Monday morning.

At the Robert Reid Cabral alone, 72 children with febrile syndrome under suspicion of dengue fever; 32 were newly admitted. This slightly increased compared to Friday’s cases, when 64 infants were admitted with possible dengue fever.

That hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) reported no inpatients on the weekend.

However, the official statistics of the National Health Service (SNS) register 82 admissions in Santo Domingo in the last 24 hours. The total number of hospitalized is 332 in the Metropolitan region, which includes Greater Santo Domingo and Monte Plata.

“These figures reflect a reduction in relation to the weekend, since between Saturday and Sunday those admitted were 90 and 336 remained hospitalized,” the SNS said in a press release.

In total, the Public Health Network at the national level admitted 157 people for dengue fever in the last 24 hours between Sunday and Monday, with a total of 637 hospitalized.

The SNS guaranteed the availability of beds, supplies, and medicines, as well as the necessary specialized personnel to respond to the demand for dengue care.

1,752 patients at the Hugo de Mendoza Hospital
Meanwhile, the director of the Hugo Mendoza Hospital, Dhamelisse Then, declared in a television interview that, during the present outbreak, 1,752 patients had been admitted to the center under suspicion of dengue, and two of them died.

The most affected are children with comorbidities, falcemics, and patients who have had dengue previously.

He pointed out that 5% of the patients may have affectations in the liver, heart, and other internal organs.

They then called parents, reminding them that children do not go to emergencies alone and to seek assistance with the first symptoms: fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, and pain behind the eyes.

Actions in Santo Domingo East
Regarding the actions being carried out in Santo Domingo East to combat dengue fever, Mayor Manuel Jimenez said he met last week with the Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, and Vice President Raquel Peña to carry out specific preventive operations.

He informed me that Los Tres Brazos and El Almirante were identified as the areas of greatest vulnerability. Still, he added La Grúa and Villa Liberación as other places where a fumigation day began this Monday.

The most recent report indicates 12,991 suspected cases of dengue fever in the country and eleven deaths associated with the disease since the beginning of this year, 2023.