Guyana records 8000 dengue cases, 5 deaths so far for 2024

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Tuesday told the media that for the year so far, 8000 cases of dengue have been recorded.
Of 8000 dengue cases, 5000 alone were recorded from June to August and these figures surpasses statistics recorded in 2023, which showed that some 2169 cases were detected from January to August.
For 2024 so far, there have been five dengue related deaths, and 800 persons were hospitalized in healthcare facilities across the country.
According to the Health Minister, this data was accumulated from the 32,000 test his ministry has administered this year.
“But as you know, there are four types or subtypes of dengue. If you get infected the first time, more than likely you are going to be with mild symptoms or even asymptomatic. But if you get infected with a different subtype, then for most people or for some people, it can give them a more severe form of dengue. And that’s what we’re seeing, and that’s why some people have to go into the hospital. And we do that out of an abundance of caution, and again, the hospitals, we have been treating people, and I think most of them have resolved quite nicely,” Anthony said.
To address the surge in cases, the minister explained that government has approached the National Assembly for supplementary funds to procure fogging machines for the various Neighborhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) to spread hotspot regularly.
“We are going to train the workers at the NDC how to mix the chemicals, how to do fogging. We are going to teach them all of that, and once that happens, we’ll provide them with a fogging machine, all the chemicals, and we’ll supervise them in a sense. So hopefully the response time would be much quicker, and the cycles of fogging would increase in frequency. So, you will see that go into operation in the near future. So, this also should bring some relief, and rather than us trying to come out to do it, each NDC would now be equipped to be able to do this on their own,” he added.
In addition, Anthony disclosed that all NDCs will have an adequate amount of dengue testing kits and bed nets as the ministry moves to beef up their diagnostic capacity.

Dengue vaccines
The Government recently disclosed that it is mulling plans to acquire dengue vaccines. In fact, the administration is looking at the possibility of procuring vaccines from Japan.
In May, the World Health Organization (WHO) cleared the dengue vaccine manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ – a Japanese firm.
At the time, Minister Anthony revealed that Government have already commenced talks with the international partners such as the Pan American Organization (PAHO) to gain access to the dengue vaccine, given that it is scarce and expensive.
“There is a vaccine that is manufactured in Japan but right now global supply is very scarce. For example, a lot of this vaccine has been brought by Brazil, and they have an immunization programme where they are giving to their five to 10 years of age, they have been giving to the children of Brazil.
But the vaccine is quite expensive and right now it is very scarce. So, the price probably has gone up too.

We were looking into it, and if we get an organisation like PAHO to access the vaccine, through their strategic fund, and make it available at a cheaper cost, then it would become more affordable to countries like in the Americas,” he said.
In addition to cost and availability, Minister Anthony explained that the efficacy of dengue vaccine is currently being examined to determine its effectiveness to all the strains of the mosquito-borne virus, which include DENV-1, -2, -3, and -4.
“In the Americas right now, we have all four variants that are circulating. And the challenge that you have with dengue is that if you were infected with one subtype, you will have mild symptoms. Nothing will go wrong with you. But if you get infected a second time with a different subtype, you can have a more severe form of the infection. So that’s a challenge that we’re trying to work through. So, that’s the challenge with the vaccine, one, the efficacy, two, the availability, and three, the cost,” Dr. Anthony added.
Dengue in Americas
Dengue is an acute febrile disease that is caused by the dengue virus which is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito. There are four serotypes of the dengue virus known as DENV 1-4, each of which can cause an infection. Re-infection with a different serotype from that of a previous infection can result in a more severe form of the disease.
Persons with Dengue may experience fever, eye pain (back of the eye), muscle/joint pain, skin rash, and headache and generalized weakness. Persons affected by severe dengue (haemorrhagic dengue) may develop complications that are associated with bleeding and clotting disorders.