A reliable source in the Sudanese Ministry of Health confirmed the diagnosis of about 60 cases of dengue fever in the capital, Khartoum, during the past few days.
The source told Sky News Arabia that the number of cases is likely to be greater than the recorded number, given that many patients do not voluntarily perform the necessary laboratory tests and resort directly to taking doses of malaria, which is widespread in Sudan, and whose symptoms are somewhat similar to those of dengue fever. .
This is the first time that cases of dengue fever have been recorded in the capital, Khartoum, but the virus has killed about 40 people after it spread in the last quarter of 2022 in more than half of the country’s 18 states.
About 2,500 cases were recorded during the aforementioned period, but independent health organizations say that the number was much higher.
What is dengue?
Dengue is a viral disease; It is transmitted to humans by the bites of female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes; infectious carrier.
According to the World Health Organization, although most cases of dengue fever are asymptomatic, or may be accompanied by mild symptoms, it appears as an influenza-like illness affecting infants, young children and adults. Symptoms of the disease usually last 2-7 days, following an incubation period of 4-10 days after an individual has been bitten by an infected mosquito.
Symptoms often start with a severe headache accompanied by nausea and pain behind the eyes and in the muscles and joints, with a rash appearing in some cases. Usually, the patient enters the so-called critical stage within 3 to 7 days after the onset of symptoms of the disease.
Within 24 to 48 hours of the critical phase, a small portion of patients may develop a sudden deterioration in symptoms, which may indicate severe dengue with fatal complications due to plasma leakage, fluid accumulation, shortness of breath, or severe bleeding. or malfunctioning of body parts.
In the critical stages of the disease, the patient feels severe abdominal pain accompanied by continuous vomiting, rapid breathing, bleeding gums or nose, fatigue and restlessness, and blood in the vomit or stool.
Given that mosquitoes are the main carrier of the disease, the proximity of breeding sites of vector mosquitoes to human habitation is one of the most dangerous and important factors for dengue fever.
fundamental problem
While stagnant and polluted water is a fertile environment for the breeding of mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever, Khartoum and many other cities in the country suffer from the accumulation of water in the streets and residential neighborhoods throughout the year due to the aging of drinking water distribution networks, amid fears of its mixing with sewage water.
In fact, there is a big gap between the level of development of networks and pumping stations and the geographical and human expansion witnessed by the capital, Khartoum, and other cities during the past years.
Abdul Raziq Mukhtar, former director of the Water Supply Authority in Khartoum State, attributes the reasons for the accumulation of water to two reasons, one of which is seasonal, related to the rainy season, and the second is the aging of distribution networks and the decline in their level of efficiency. Mukhtar explains to Sky News Arabia that the water distribution networks suffer from major problems due to their obsolescence and inadequacy.
The aging of water distribution networks has become one of the reasons that help breed disease vectors, and this problem is clearly reflected in the records of diseases transmitted by insects that breed in stagnant water, as data from the World Health Organization indicate that about 1.8 million people, or nearly 5 percent, have been infected. of the population of Sudan with malaria.
Big concerns
The current wave of dengue fever comes in light of great fears of the collapse of the health sector and the inability of patients to pay the treatment bill, which doubled 10 times last year in government hospitals.
Adiba Al-Sayed, a member of the Forensic Doctors Syndicate and the Executive Committee of the Unified Doctors’ Office, said that the health situation will become more severe due to the high poverty rates in Sudan, which reach more than 50 percent of the country’s population of about 40 million.
Adiba Al-Sayed told Sky News Arabia that the health system is already suffering from major problems due to the emigration of large numbers of doctors and the deterioration of the work environment and hospitals.
The facts
● 800 percent increase in the number of cases of dengue fever in the world during the past two decades, with an annual infection rate estimated at about 4 million.
● An annual average of 4,000 deaths worldwide, and younger people are more vulnerable to complications that lead to death.
● More than 100 countries in Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific are under the brunt of the disease.
● 2019 was the worst year in terms of the number of dengue cases, with more than 5,000 cases recorded worldwide.
The most important hedges
● Control of mosquitoes that transmit them using appropriate insecticides in all places of residence.
● Domestic water storage containers are covered, emptied and cleaned on a weekly basis.
● Use personal home protection measures such as window screens, repellents, coils, and fumigators.
● Wear clothing that minimizes skin exposure to mosquitoes.