Worst Dengue Epidemic in Twenty Years “Places All of Guyana”

Sitting in the corridor, the man waits his turn at the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Unit (UMIT) of the Cayenne Hospital Center. Patrick, a 60-year-old metropolitan civil servant who wishes to remain anonymous, is barely recovering from dengue hemorrhagic fever. It wakes up “Initially very tired, fever of 38.5 degrees which does not go down, not much appetite or thirst”. Three days after the first symptoms, hunting “Major Dehydration”He goes to the hospital. “I waited a long time in the emergency room, but the care at UMIT was impeccableSays this resident outside of Cayenne. Thirteen days after the onset of the disease, a vessel burst in my right eye, I can hardly see anything now, they told me it will come back. »

At UMIT, the two medical offices opened to deal with the epidemic see thirty to forty patients a day. “We have so many cases, patients are exhausted, some take three weeks to recover, it puts the whole of Guyana on edge”, explains Lauren Dahuron, a young infectious disease doctor. Dengue fever is a viral infection that is spread locally by mosquitoes. Aedes aegypti. On February 15, Public Health France (SPF) counted nearly 13,000 cases “Medically Indicated” In Guyana, there have been more than 6,600 confirmed cases since the outbreak began a year ago, a rapid increase from 1.^er January: In one-and-a-half months, almost half of clinically suggestive cases and 60% of proven cases were reported.

A very tired girl is also waiting to see the doctor. “My whole body hurts, I have trouble standing, I feel dizzy when I bend down.

Arlene, a mother of four, explains. I have a child to take care of, it’s not easy. »

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“This dengue epidemic is the most severe in the last 20 yearsTiffany Suko, head of SPF in Guyana, analyzes. As of mid-2023, it was primarily located in Kauro (in the north), but now it concerns the entire region. » While in most cases dengue fever is limited to mild symptoms, it can cause high fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, with recovery lasting up to two weeks. In rare cases, it takes a severe, potentially fatal hemorrhagic form: by reducing platelets in the blood, which allow coagulation, it can lead to multiple hemorrhages. Since the outbreak began, there have been four deaths among people who tested positive for dengue fever, and 190 people have been hospitalized in Cayenne, including 1 to 116.^er January.

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