United States: Health authorities announced on Wednesday that local dengue fever cases are on the rise in the Los Angeles area.
The Los Angeles County of Public Health Department announced on its website that three people contracted dengue fever in the Baldwin Park area, located east of downtown Los Angeles this month.
As reported by the HealthDay, “The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health orders 3 patients with locally acquired dengue, and these patients had no travel history to areas with dengue transmission before developing symptoms,” according to the notice.
Dengue transmitted within LA County is very limited There were two instances of locally transmitted dengue in Long Beach and Pasadena last fall and over 90 percent of locally acquired cases in LA County were acquired while traveling in countries where dengue is endemic.
Through August of this year, 82 such cases have been identified by travelers coming back from international trips in LA County, according to health authorities.
However, the locally transmitted cases are quite alarming the three additional officials said to Bernama.
Such other local transmission cases are a wake-up call for all residents of the greater Los Angeles County to start engaging in preventive measures towards mosquito breeding and mosquito bites in order to decrease the likelihood of a more steady transmission of mosquito-borne diseases in the future, health officials noted in the notice.
What can residents do for them to protect themselves?
“Avoiding direct and straight contact with mosquitoes and, therefore, the possibility of mosquito bites are important in avoiding the total and final transmission of mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue fever,” Los Angeles County Health Officer who is named as Dr. Muntu Davis said in the notice. For example, you can use an insect repellent to avoid being bitten by a mosquito.
you need to drain any water that may be stagnant around your home since it is the breeding site of the mosquitoes and ensure that your home is free from mosquitoes by installing or repairing screens on the doors and windows.
It is regrettable that such basic preventive actions can so effectively decrease the incidence of vector borne illness for both yourself and your community dwellers. ” Los Angeles is not alone is seeing more local cases of the dengue fever emerge this year and the illnesses have been reported in the Florida the United States Virgin Islands and the Puerto Rico and where all the officials have declared the dengue epidemic.
Also there have been almost 3,277 locally acquired the cases in the United States this year of which is 96% were in the Puerto Rico which is according to the US Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention.
Causes of dengue have been surging globally as the climate change brings the warmer weather that allows mosquitoes to spread further.