The Chile Ministry of Health reported recently (computer translated) on four confirmed autochthonous  dengue fever cases on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), prompting the issuance of a health warning.

The document note that these people are residents of the island with no travel history abroad, so it is deduced that such situation constitutes an outbreak , associated with environmental risk conditions due to the presence of the vector, Aedes aegypti.

Image/Wolk9 via pixabay
Image/Wolk9 via pixabay

Zika virus infection reported on Easter Island

In Chile, the dengue vector was detected in Rapa Nui in 2000, and two years later, in 2002, the first outbreak on the island  infected 80 percent of the population, which is taken into account by the decree .

Contingency measures will be taken on the island to deal with cases.

There will be a reinforcement of the measures that had already been taken “such as surveillance, elimination of hatcheries,” said Seremi de Salud de Valparaíso, Francisco Álvarez.

“As for the isolation of people, give them spray and mosquito nets , because they are people who can transmit the virus also to mosquitoes that do not have the virus.” On the other hand, Hanga Roa Hospital has facilitated the process of both care and sending samples for confirmation with the ISP, ” said the health authority of the area.

Anyway, he said that the viral picture of dengue “is similar to the flu” and called a calm saying that “on the island we have phenotype 1 (dengue), which is the least lethal of the four that exist in the world ”

“All the measures taken are to eliminate the outbreak, and if necessary we will do a sweeping fumigation on the whole island if cases appear in many places, for the moment the cases have been super concentrated and that has facilitated the control of the outbreak , but we can not rule out that cases continue to appear, “the seremi explained.

In addition, the measure authorizes the Ministry of Health to strengthen monitoring of febrile symptoms that occur on the island, one of the manifestations of the disease transmitted by the mosquito.