Peru formally declared a state of emergency in its Amazonian region of Ucayali on Thursday after an outbreak of dengue fever that has so far claimed 10 lives.

Under the state of emergency, signed by Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, immediate medical treatment should be provided to affected residents at local hospitals and healthcare centers, and all possible measures should be adopted to safeguard affected areas.

The measure is to last 60 days in the Ucayali communities of Coronel Portillo, Padre Abad and Atalaya, 840 km east of the capital Lima.

According to Peru's Health Ministry, more than 2,000 people have so far shown symptoms of dengue, which include high fever, headaches and eye aches, muscle pain, loss of appetite, rash, nausea, vomiting and hemorrhage in the most severe cases.

Meanwhile, Peruvian authorities launched a campaign in the affected towns, calling for cleaning up bottles and other discarded items that could serve as breeding grounds of the dengue-carrying Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes. Endi

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)