An epidemic of dengue fever, a disease transmitted by mosquitoes, claimed the lives of 356 people in Burkina Faso from mid-October to mid-November, raising the death toll to 570 since January 1, an organization under the ministry announced yesterday Friday Health.

From January 1 to November 19, “123,804 suspected (dengue) cases, including 56,637 probable cases and 570 deaths, with a mortality rate of 1%” were reported to the Center for Health Emergency Response Operations (CORUS). , its director, medical biologist Joseph Soubeyga, said during a press conference.

As of October 15, the agency reported 214 deaths since the beginning of the year. From October 15 to November 19, 356 patients succumbed as a result.

From November 13 to 19 alone, “59 deaths were recorded,” Mr. Soubeyga said, adding that in the same period, “we were notified of 13,896 suspected cases, including 6,829 probable” and “1,101 serious cases” that required “hospitalization.” .

To prevent the spread of the epidemic, the government began a mosquito spraying campaign in the two most affected cities, the capital Ouagadougou (central) and Bobo-Doulasso (west). In these cities “1,642 sick homes and neighboring” as well as “696 public places” were disinfected, explained the head of CORUS.

Burkina Faso has recorded cases of dengue fever since the 1960s, but the first certified outbreak was recorded in 2017, when 13 people died.

The virus that causes dengue fever, which is transmitted by infected mosquitoes like malaria, with which it shares symptoms, spreads mainly in warmer countries, usually tropical, and rages in urban and semi-urban zones, where between 100 and 400 million cases each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Symptoms include very high fever, severe headaches, muscle aches, skin rashes, low blood platelet levels, nausea and vomiting, and in more severe forms of the disease, leaking blood vessels and a sharp drop in blood pressure .