124 people died of Dengue in Central America: UN

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According to reports by news agency IANS, almost 124 persons have died due to dengue outbreak in Central America. There are a total of nearly 127,000 cases of dengue in the sub-continent.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that, dengue had killed at least 124 people among the entire 127,000 cases of the mosquito-borne diseases which tally up to August 8, 2019, Xinhua reported.

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"Children and adolescents are the most affected", OCHA said. "In Honduras, children under 15 represent two-thirds of confirmed deaths."

The United Nations, as well as other humanitarian organisations, are lending their support to a few government-led responses in Central America with medical supplies and some equipment; surveillance and community vector control; fumigation and door-to-door awareness campaigns; and direct technical support for community health centres, OCHA said.

According to reports earlier this week by the World Health Organization (WHO), a total of 167,607 dengue cases, which includes 720 deaths, were counted up to July 27, 2019. This is 97 percent higher than the rate in 2018 despite the monsoons being delayed.

Also Read: First dengue death reported this year in Odisha

According to news agency IANS, the UN health agency also said that the viral disease has spread rapidly in recent years and is transmitted mainly by the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also transmits diseases such as malaria, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika virus infections, and carried to a lesser degree by the Aedes Albopictus mosquito.

With inputs from IANS

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