6 minors taken to school hospital with dengue fever

Sonia Orellana, a doctor at the Pediatric Emergency Department of Escuela Hospital (HE), reported that six patients had been admitted with dengue fever in the past few hours but are now in a stable condition.

He explained that they arrived with pictures of fevers, sore throats, watery eyes and red eyes, and when it came to severe dengue they had abdominal pain, vomiting and nosebleeds.

“We have six patients in stable condition, thank God, all of them are dengue, which means we are not prepared and don’t want to follow the cleaning order, let’s take advantage of the lack of rain now,” Orellana said explain.

He suggested clearing houses, destroying breeding grounds, collecting rubbish and storing it where it is, as it could become a breeding ground for mosquitoes as the rains arrive.

He warned that there are other diseases such as influenza, COVID-19, Zika virus, which may spread, but everything depends on the help of the people, especially parents, because children are the most affected.

“These patients continue to be recruited and we had 16 patients over the weekend alone. We advise parents to go to the health center, clean up around the house, drink plenty of water, wash their hands and wear a mask,” he warned.

Carlos Maldonado, director of higher education pediatrics, said people should know that most respiratory illnesses are caused by viruses.

“Keep in mind that dengue and COVID-19 have some manifestations in the beginning and can be confused with common flu, the problem is when they get complicated and develop into pneumonia,” he said.

He explained that minors with pneumonia have not yet reached HE, but they have reached private centres, and he told parents that they should take care of the minors and provide them with shelter when it rains, as climate change and falling temperatures will lead to disease.

“We all have to contribute by protecting children, cleaning batteries, preventing mosquito bites and avoiding all breeding grounds, the one that affects the most is dengue,” Maldonado said.