Honduras battles deadly outbreak of dengue fever, with at least 135 people dead from dengue there this year and nearly two-thirds of them children.
In this photo taken on Aug. 20, 2019, a patient receives treatment for dengue inside a room at the University School Hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. At least 135 people have died from dengue this year in Honduras, nearly two-thirds of them children.
The epidemic hit a country roiled by social unrest and led by a president who has lacked credibility since he won another term in spite of a constitutional ban on his re-election in 2017. Juan Orlando Hernández has also been named a co-conspirator in his brother’s U.S. drug trafficking case. Doctors and nurses spent weeks marching against his proposed reforms, which they feared were a step toward privatizing the country’s health care system.
When outbreaks of this magnitude occur, health officials typically find that the sick do not seek treatment soon enough and then often receive inadequate medical attention, said Dr. José Luis San Martín, regional adviser for the Pan American Health Organization, who visited Honduras in August.“When we review the history of the virus, we always find there is a group of external factors that could have been manageable,” San Martin said.
On a recent afternoon, dozens of emergency workers cranked up howling fumigation machines that looked like leaf blowers and fanned out into a hillside Tegucigalpa neighborhood. As pesticide smoke engulfed her home and street, Ingrid Hartón said she hoped the fumigation would prevent more deaths.
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