Costa Rica News – Puntarenas and Guanacaste are suffering a significant increase in dengue and chikungunya patients.
Both of those viruses, as well as the Zika virus, are transmitted by the same type of mosquitos.
The growth in dengue cases in Puntarenas has been tracked since mid-September, when the cases nearly doubled from one week to the next, going from 60 to 108. In Guanacaste, the patients increased from 81 to 147 in July. The total number of dengue cases in the country is 12,496. This is a 12% increase over last year.
Chikungunya arrived in mid-May of 2014 and had a sharp rise in the end of that year. In the two weeks ending on November 14th the chikungunya figures increased sevenfold. There are 3,020 patients this year, a 2,000% increase over 2014.
The Ministry of Health expects that, because of the cyclical nature of the diseases, there will be an epidemic in 2016.
As always, take care to eliminate mosquito breeding sites, those which are dark or where water accumulates.
