Dengue fever outbreak declared in Nagaa Sandal

With scores of residents falling ill in Nagaa Sandal, a small village in Qena, suffering symptoms including vomiting, fever, and diarrhea, the Health Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that the viral infection is mosquito-borne Dengue fever. 

The ministry said it was taking “all preventive and precautionary measures in vector control and reducing the spread of the disease,” which has a mortality rate of less than one percent when people have access to medical treatment, adding that, “some of the cases have connections to other cases that exhibited similar symptoms in Safaga and Qusayr,” without explaining any further. 

Dengue outbreaks in Egypt occur annually at this time of year, said the health program director at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Alaa Ghanem, who added that the disease affects the Qena and Red Sea governorates seasonally.

There are currently cases of Dengue in Qusayr and Safaga in the Red Sea Governorate, near Qena, and have been for more than two months, said Ghanem, adding that he doesn’t think there’s been sufficient media coverage of the disease.

Dengue has also been in Nagaa Sandal since the beginning of May, said a source from the village who plays a large role in the local community and who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, with numbers rising in early June.

“All those who have contracted the illness suffered minor symptoms and received treatment at home, with no hospitalizations for Dengue reported in the village,” said the ministry. 

However, the local source claimed differently, stating that there are no medical staff at Nagaa Sandal’s local health unit and while some of those falling sick have sought out treatment at pharmacies, other cases have received care at Qus General Hospital, Qena Fever Hospital and Luxor Fever Hospital.

Outbreaks of Dengue could become more common in Egypt, Ghanem told Mada Masr, given the effects of climate change and rising temperatures. There is a variant of the Dengue-bearing mosquito which is native to Egypt (Aedes aegypti), and which breeds around stagnant bodies of water — which could be drinking water, for example, or sewage. 

Drains and exposed sewage-collection tanks from Qus Region spanning an estimated area of 105 feddans only two kilometers away from the village are the reason for the fever’s virulence in the village, the local source said.

“Residents filed notices to the health unit, the Qena governor, the Cabinet, legislators, the agriculture directorate and the Health Ministry to request that authorities disinfect facilities in Nagaa Sandal,” said the source. Mada Masr reviewed copies of the notices.

To eradicate Dengue, said Ghanem, drainage channels must be sprayed and disinfected, regular waste disposal must be conducted, and the storage of drinking water for long periods of time should be avoided or at least monitored periodically.

But, the local source claimed, “it has been a year since the last time a disinfectant truck came to Nagaa Sandal, and we paid for it.”

Ghanem, meanwhile, pointed to issues regarding coordination between the ministries of environment and health to ensure that the virus is contained.