Health min. in Hurghada to follow up preventive measures against Dengue Fever

HURGHADA, Egypt - 10 Oct 2017 : Health Minister Ahmed Emad Eddin Radi held a meeting early Tuesday with leaders at the health directorate in Hurghada to review needed measures to combat Dengue Fever.

The number of anti-Dengue Fever teams has increased, the minister said.

Preventive measures against Dengue Fever were intensified after some cases were positive for the mosquito-borne disease in the Red Sea city of Quseir, the minister added.

Earlier this month, Ministry of Health spokesperson Khaled Megahed said that limited cases have appeared in Quseir city in the past due to the presence of the virus-carrying mosquito larva, known as Aedes aegypti, in water reservoirs.

Megahed noted that 80 percent of city reservoirs are not casketed with plate covers, providing a fertile environment for the growth of the disease-transmitting mosquito larva.

Several cases of Dengue Fever emerged in 2015 in Upper Egypt's Assiut governorate, but all cases were treated without reporting any incidence of death, Megahed added.

The spokesman said that the ministry's Preventive Medicine Sector is closely following all developments regarding the disease.

The sector is also taking preventive measures in Quseir city, including emptying water reservoirs to eliminate the mosquito larva.

Megahed noted that Dengue Fever is not transmitted from one person to another through contact, touching, or saliva, but rather is caused by a direct bite from a carrier mosquito to a person.

The disease present in more than 100 countries all over the world and is not likely to cause death, the spokesman added.