The number of two mosquito borne diseases have been growing in recent weeks, putting the 2014 numbers above what was seen last year.
The Venezuelan Health Ministry has been seeing more than 2,000 dengue fever cases a week through the month of August. Health officials report 2,006 cases the week of Aug. 10, 2,020 cases the week of Aug. 17 and 2,261 cases the week of Aug. 24.
According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Venezuela has reported over 42,000 dengue cases so far in 2014, a 31.64% increase, compared to the total of 32,824 cases reported last year.
The number of cases of the parasitic disease, malaria are also on the rise in Venezuela. The Health Ministry says some 1,668 new cases of malaria were detected from August 24 to August 30. The total number of cases so far this year is 55,970, jumping by 2.35% with respect to the 54,680 reports recorded last year.
Concerning chikungunya in Venezuela, the PAHO reports 303 locally transmitted cases and 70 imported. Venezuela is one of five countries named in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention travel notice released today. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
