Eight of the ten zika cases that have appeared in the country are concentrated in the province of Puntarenas. Of the eleven cantons that form the coastal province, seven have had infected people so far.
This information follows an analysis done by AmeliaRueda.com, along with weekly data provided by the Ministry of Health on the behavior of the virus since the first week of March of this year when the first cases were presented in Nicoya.
Puntarenas follows Guanacaste with eleven cases in four cantons. Subsequently, San Jose has only presented four cases in Alajuelita and three cases in two cantons of Alajuela.
Vulnerable Zone
The National Coordinator of Virus Control of the Ministry of Health, Rodrigo Marin, explained that the Pacific Central Zone is historically vulnerable to transmitted diseases by the mosquito Aedes Aegypti.
The principal factor that benefits the reproduction of the transmitter mosquito of dengue, chikungunya, and now zika is the climate, as well as the rain and also the neglect of the locals that don’t eliminate breeding grounds, explained the doctor.
For Marin, this region “has all of the conditions” to remain at the head in cases of zika, four months after the first indigenous case was presented in the country.
The efforts of the authorities, as well as the local government of Garabito which is where the major focus is found, they have gradually accomplished a reduction in the impact of the virus.
Since May when the first cases appeared in Garabito, the quantity suddenly increased each week at a rate of more than ten in some cases.
But since the second week of June the quantity of new cases per week lost strength.
Marin affirmed that the Ministry of Health has invested close to 3 billion to mitigate the impact of the virus that has already affected the entire American continent.
Not the only one
The only province without a confirmed case of zika is Cartago, and its principal ally is the low temperature that makes it difficult for the mosquito to reproduce.
Marin explained that while the biological cycle of an Aedes Aegypti takes approximately seven days in a hot climate, in a cold climate it can double.
This makes it so that the mosquito reproduces less rapidly in cold environments.
This upcoming month the National Commission of Emergencies (CNE) in conjunction with Health will deliver kits with repellents and awnings to pregnant women with less than 14 weeks of gestation.
Source: ameliarueda.com