Tanzania: Health ministry cautions over existence of dengue Fever
What you need to know:
- The Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, the Elderly and Children has finally admitted the existence of dengue fever in the country while Dar es Salaam Region has been mentioned to have over 200 diagnosed patients.
Dar es Salaam. The Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, the Elderly and Children has finally admitted about the existence of dengue fever disease in the country, whereby Dar es Salaam Region has been said to have over 200 diagnosed patients.
Speaking with The Citizen early this week, the Deputy Minister in the ministry, Dr Faustine Ndugulile, said Dar es Salaam and Tanga regions had been found to have the disease.
“Dengue fever is here. We have started diagnosing some people, who suffered from the disease in Dar and Tanga regions. However, we are yet to receive any death as so far we have at least 200 patients in Dar es Salaam, but nobody who has seriously been affected.
“So, I would like to advise health service providers to test patients, who, if diagnosed with the disease, should be provided with proper treatment,” said Dr Ndugulile.
He added, “Over 70 per cent of fevers that we have is not malaria as we have also UTI and typhoid fevers caused by viruses and dengue fever is also caused by a virus. It exists within Tanzania.
“And what we are doing now is to strengthen tracking systems and to have correct statistics in both public and private hospitals.”
However, Dr Ndugulile has called upon residents of the regions to take precautions including covering pools of water with soil and protecting against mosquito bites.
