By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville revealed there are currently 52 cases of dengue fever, with “about six people” in hospital.

The minister repeated his advice to Bahamians to look at their surroundings - making sure no buckets of water are lying around that can cause growth of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

“We’re up fogging but of course fogging only knocks what’s airborne and if you have these receptacles filled with water around the home you continue to breed - that is concerned,” Dr Darville said.

“So the Department of Environmental Health is working very closely with the ministry to really get the message out and to be very aggressive with the cases that we do find and the residents where we go in and we do a swot check and fix the situation surrounding.”

 “One of the things I like to say is, as we speak, there’s about six people in hospital with dengue and it’s very important to us to let the population know that dengue can be very serious and it’s important to once again execute the appropriate measure.

 “Also this week we found cases in Grand Bahama and so I believe we have three confirmed cases in Grand Bahama with the possibility of an admission if that’s not the case or maybe two.”

 “We are upping our investigation and fogging as well as going from door to door with those cases that we do find to ensure that we make sure the environment is protected so there’s no increase breeding.”

 A suspected case in Abaco proved to be negative.

 Dengue fever causes severe flu-like illness and sometimes a potentially lethal complication called dengue haemorrhagic fever.

 Other symptoms include headache, muscle and joint pains and rash.

 Dengue fever, the viral illness, is spread through contact with the Aedes aegypti mosquito. The mosquito is most active after dawn and before dusk. It lives and breeds in standing water.

 Most of the dengue patients live predominately in the eastern and southeastern communities of New Providence.

 The country last experienced a significant virus outbreak in 2011, with 205 confirmed and 7,200 suspected cases.