Situation analysis
Description of the disaster According to the Ministry of Health, 253 people have tested positive for dengue since January - 21 May 2016. There has been an exponential increase in the number of confirmed cases from week 16 onwards with the peak (66) in week 19. In total 175 males and 96 females tested positive for dengue (253 cases). The age range 2 - 79 years old, with 85% of the cases being less than 40 years.
The above trend is a gross underestimation of the real situation on the ground which is much worse since, people who have suffers the milder form of the disease are not seeking medical attention. They are r infectious and therefore continue to fuel this epidemic. Two (2) subtypes (DENV1 and DENV 2) are currently circulating in Seychelles
The number of cases are still rising rapidly and has so far shown no sign of declining. For the month of May, 75 cases have been reported. Several measures have been put in place to combat this outbreak. Every region on Mahé is being affected, and more cases have been reported in the 4 districts of English River, Anse Royale Anse Etoile and Beau Vallon, with1 case in Praslin Island. Considering the fact that the majority of the population lives in the island of Mahé, vector elimination, prevention and sensitization efforts will be focused there.
These high occurrences of dengue cases are much more than in recent years. The last dengue outbreak in Seychelles occurred from January to March 2013 with a total of 74 reported cases documented. No cases were reported in 2014 and only 6 cases reported in 2015 (Source Indian Ocean Commission SEGA One Health – BVOI n° 160 March 2013, BVOI n° 256 August 2015), confirming the exceptional characteristics of the current outbreak.
Dengue fever is a painful, debilitating mosquito-borne disease caused by any 1 of 4 closely related dengue viruses.
These viruses are related to the viruses that cause West Nile and yellow fever. An estimated 390 million dengue infections occur worldwide each year, with about 96 million resulting in illness. Most cases occur in tropical areas of the world. However, serious problems can develop; these include dengue hemorrhagic fever; a rare complication characterized by high fever; damage to lymph and blood vessels; bleeding from the nose and gums; enlargement of the liver and failure of the circulatory system. The symptoms may progress to massive bleeding, shock and death.
Between December 1976 - September 1977 the Seychelles group of islands was struck by an extensive epidemic of dengue fever. The peak of the epidemic was in the last week of February which, affected approximately 80% of the population. Type 2 dengue virus was isolated from patients and mosquitos. Aedes albopictus was the sole vector.