Catalonia has detected an outbreak of indigenous transmission of dengue fever in the Tarragona region. As announced in a note from the Public Health Agency of Catalonia (Aspacat), two of the cases have been admitted to the Joan XXIII Hospital of Tarragona and were subsequently sent home, a third symptomatic case did not require hospitalization and two other cases are asymptomatic.
According to Aspacat, indigenous cases of dengue had already been diagnosed in previous years, that is, they were not associated with the movement of people. To be avoided possible infectionsAccording to the agency, the procedure consists of an active search for new cases, through inspections to detect possible sources of transmission by mosquitoes and alerting primary care and hospital services in the area to detect suspected cases.
In addition, they add, they work directly with the municipalities where these cases reside to provide recommendations for disinfestation and protection against mosquito bitesFinally, the Blood and Tissue Bank carries out systematic screening for dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases among donors in Catalonia.
Considering the measures adopted after the detection of this year’s outbreak, the risk of new indigenous cases appearing in the area is assessed as “moderate» until the end of the vector activity period in November.
The disease occurs after a mosquito bite in an area where dengue fever is usually present. asymptomaticSymptoms, when present, depend on the age of the patients and last from two to seven days.
During 2022, case detection almost reached pre-pandemic levels, with a total of 194 confirmed cases in Catalonia. In 2023, 260 cases were confirmed and until August 2024, 295 cases were reported, most of them imported from endemic geographic areas dengue fever, particularly in the Americas region.
The risk of importation of cases from endemic areas to non-endemic areas where possible vectors are present, such as Aedes albopictusthe mosquito that transmits the disease makes transmission possible and causes cases to appear in the indigenous population.
This was the case, for example, of the indigenous cases that appeared during 2018 and 2019 in Spain (two in Catalonia) and in France, those that appeared in Italy and France during the year 2020 (respectively 11 and 13 cases), the outbreaks detected in 2022 in Ibiza, with 6 cases, and in France, with 9 outbreaks and 65 cases or the three cases detected in Catalonia in 2023.
