Bolivian government officials announced the creation of a molecular genetics lab where will be performed researchs to prevent illness and limit the spread of other diseases such as dengue.
Sonia Polo, Bolivian Minister of Health, informed to a TV channel that “Once finalized, the project will provide valuable data to the authorities to develop preventive programs and health promotions.”
She added hat “the laboratory will allow the mapping of the DNA of newborns childs, in order to detect which age groups have more risk factors in order to prevent cancer.
And also clarified that “the country may also study disease vectors, such as the mosquito ‘Aedes aegypti’, which spreads dengue fever in order to modify its DNA to decrease the probabilities that the insect has to carry the virus.”
Health authorities indicated that “in the past two months, there was an outbreak of dengue, although the incidence is lower this year compared to the epidemic in early 2009, in which 22 people died and were identified 50 thousand cases of classical type.
Confirming that “two deaths from dengue’s hemorrhagic fever occurred in the eastern region of Santa Cruz this year, so they declared health alert in that province.”
The newspaper La Razón published today that authorities have confirmed 123 cases of dengue fever between January and February of this year, of which, 38 were detected in the Amazon region of Beni (northeastern), 36 in Tarija (south), 29 in Santa Cruz, 14 in northern La Paz, five in Pando (north) and one in central Cochabamba.
Polo told to the people that they don’t have to be afraid, as the dengue cases reported in the first two months of the year were 1.052 compared with the 4.572 recorded in the same period last year.
Polo Minister said “this decrease means that preventive measures in the country have improved” and that “the executive and regional authorities are working together to prevent the spreading of the disease.”
He announced that “the next 8 of March a national campaign of vaccination against influenza A will start, in order to avoid a resurgence of the disease in the country.”
