Outbreak News Today, 20 may 2017
After a period of heavy flooding, which helped spread viral infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a dengue epidemic in the city of Piura, where 19 people have died according to a euronews report (computer translated).
According to official figures, 3,150 cases have been confirmed in Peru in the latest outbreak, with another possible 12,446. In Piura alone, three hundred possible new dengue infections are reported daily. Health Minister Patricia Garcia Funegra said that she will continue joining forces in Piura to defeat dengue and reiterated that what happens in this region is an epidemic and not a pandemic.
‘I am a doctor and I know what dengue means, and I have been from the first days of the emergency working hard because we do not want dengue to beat us,’ he said in an interview with a local media.