Jalisco’s Health Department (SSJ) is closely monitoring the spread of dengue fever as infections increase during the humid summer months.

The first confirmed case in Chapala was reported during Epidemiological Week 29, which ended on July 20. A second case was reported the following week, and two more were added in the first week of August. To date, eight suspected cases in Chapala and its surrounding towns have been ruled out by tests conducted at the SSJ laboratory.

In other parts of the region, the number of confirmed cases is as follows: four in Tuxcueca, 19 in Jocotepec, 34 in Poncitlán, and three in Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos.

The Guadalajara metro area leads in reported cases, with 391 in the municipality, 271 in Tlaquepaque, 206 in Zapopan, 67 in Tonala, and 43 in Tlajomulco. Puerto Vallarta has recorded 137 positive tests to date.

Alejandra Siling Ortiz, director of Chapala’s Centro de Salud, is urging all local hospitals, health clinics and private physicians to submit epidemiological study forms and blood samples for patients showing symptoms of dengue. This will help implement containment measures while laboratory tests are processed.Fumigations are conducted in and around patients’ homes to prevent localized outbreaks.

Residents are advised to discard used tires and other refuse stored outside their homes, and to keep buckets and other containers that collect standing water turned upside down to eliminate mosquito breeding sites.

Dengue fever affects all ages, with symptoms ranging from mild fever to severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain and rash. Severe cases can be fatal. The disease is transmitted by the bite of an infected female Aedes aegypti mosquito.