Slight increase reported in dengue cases as Ministry of Health advises cleanup of potential breeding sites

By Aaron Humes: This afternoon, the Ministry of Health issued an alert on a slight rise in the number of dengue cases countrywide in Belize, entering what is considered an active period for the endemic, mosquito-transmitted infection.

Kim Bautista, Vector Control Chief, Operations at the Ministry confirmed that there were 865 total cases, an increase of five percent over last year’s total to date of 823. Most of those cases originated in the Toledo, Cayo and Orange Walk Districts, including Punta Gorda Town and Bella Vista.

According to Bautista, Belize is actually on track to have fewer cases overall than in 2023 but that’s only if residents follow guidelines on keeping away vectors such as the Aedes aegypti mosquito: “When we look at the data that our field officers captured the containers that are most positive for the mosquito that transmits dengue tends to be tires and uncovered drums and buckets and things like that. So though you have a drought if you still have the containers out there, to actually breed these mosquitoes, there is the potential for transmission. When the rainy season comes along, it just, I would say exposes the true situation that is out there in terms of the number of containers that are breeding sites, as we call them, that you have out there. And so you would tend to see an increase in cases. So when you look at the amount of tires and, breeding sites bottles being hoarded for recycling and things like that, these breeding sites are – coupled with the fact that you also have issues in terms of low-lying areas poor drainage and, things like that.”

The Ministry is doing its part by spraying a chemical mix including malathion to attack breeding sites, but there are complications, said Bautista, using the example of Belize City: “Belize City is divided into nine sanitary zones. We target those zones, we have three vehicles targeting those zones. Within a typical day, you can only spray, I believe it is a maximum of four to four and a half hours because you cannot apply chemicals during the day, because it will basically evaporate; you cannot apply them when it is raining, it will not work. And if you apply after it would have to be a minimum of one hour after the rain has passed. You basically have maybe let’s see from about 5 a.m. to about 6 to 6:30 in the morning, and then from about six to about nine o’clock in the evening so it’s a short window that you have to go and you’re actually driving about roughly about seven, eight miles per hour, to actually do a proper spray.”

The Ministry has 14 trucks with foggers to cover all 200 villages, towns and cities in Belize, and its schedule starts in the municipalities before spreading to rural areas. However, recent rains slowed down those plans and so spraying has to take place through the weekends covering each area morning and evening for two to three days then on a weekly basis.

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