{"id":131029,"date":"2022-12-30T17:57:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-31T00:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=131029"},"modified":"2022-12-30T17:57:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-31T00:57:54","slug":"sri-lanka-setps-up-its-anti-dengue-fight-after-fresh-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/12\/30\/sri-lanka-setps-up-its-anti-dengue-fight-after-fresh-outbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka setps up its anti-dengue fight after fresh outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy La Prensa Latina<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Colombo, Dec 30 (EFE).- Sri Lanka stepped up its fight against dengue on Friday as the country recorded its highest number of infections since 2019, following a fresh outbreak in recent weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health officials recorded over 75,000 dengue cases this year, more than double the number of infections from last year, when around 34,000 people caught the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An average of 200 to 300 cases were recorded each day in the past four weeks, prompting a two-day intensive drive to control the outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authorities asked the people to destroy mosquito breeding areas found in their homes, workplaces, and public spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools across the island were asked to check their premises and remove breeding spots before the new term began on Jan. 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As this situation continues to develop, we are facing a huge risk of a large number of dengue cases being reported across the country,\u201d the health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, the country registered 31,000 cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts attribute fewer cases in the last two years to Covid-19 restrictions during which schools were closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reduction in numbers was seen in many other dengue-endemic countries because the Covid restrictions actually reduced dengue transmission,\u201d the head of the global dengue program Neelika Malavige told EFE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many children (in schools) are bitten by dengue-infected mosquitoes (and it) did not happen during COVID years because schools were closed,\u201d Malavige said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The progressive end of the restrictions coincided with unexpected monsoon rains that lashed the country this year, prompting a new wave of dengue infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka experiences two dengue seasons \u2013 April-July and November-February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It coincides with the rainy season. This is the pattern observed for many years. So, we are seeing the same this year,\u201d Malavige said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we do have a big dengue issue in Sri Lanka, which is similar to what is seen in many dengue-endemic countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, the alterations in the rainfall cycle caused by climate change aggravate the problem, promoting outbreaks of the disease out of season, as happened in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts say climate change is aggravating the dengue spread in many countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a video message last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said climate change fuels the spread of antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases like cholera, malaria, and dengue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the increase in environmental temperatures, the vector densities in dengue-endemic countries increase, and also the mosquitoes expand into new geographical locations,\u201d Malavige said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increased temperatures also increase vector competence for transmission. So, climate change is likely to make things worse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spike in infections is straining Sri Lanka\u2019s below-par health system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy La Prensa Latina Colombo, Dec 30 (EFE).- Sri Lanka stepped up its fight against dengue on Friday as the country recorded its highest number of infections since 2019, following a fresh outbreak in recent weeks. Health officials recorded over 75,000 dengue cases this year, more than double the number of infections from last year, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131029\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}