124 people died of Dengue in Central America: UN

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CAVITE PROVINCE, August 13, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Dengue patients rest inside a Dengue Emergency Medical Unit set up by Philippine Red Cross Cavite Province, the Philippines, August 13, 2019. The emergency tent was installed during the weekend to address with the rising dengue cases in the province. The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) declared the dengue outbreak a national epidemic on July 20 after they recorded some 167,607 cases of dengue and 622 deaths from January this year. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali) 马尼拉分社记者杨柯二零一九年八月十三日审

United Nations, Almost 124 people have died of Dengue in Central America among the nearly 127,000 cases.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday said that authorities in Central America reported that Dengue had killed at least 124 people among the nearly 127,000 cases of the mosquito-borne disease tallied up to Aug 8, Xinhua reported.

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

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

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported earlier this week that 167,607 dengue cases, including 720 deaths, were counted up to July 27, a 97 percent higher rate than last year despite a delayed rainy season.

The UN health agency said the viral disease has rapidly spread in recent years and is transmitted mainly by the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also transmits chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika infections, and carried to a lesser degree by the Aedes Albopictus mosquito.