dc.description.abstract | [Foreword]. Faced with the complex situation caused by dengue in the Americas and around
the world, in 2003 the Pan American Health Organization/World Health
Organization (PAHO/WHO) developed the Integrated Management Strategy for
Dengue Prevention and Control in the Americas (IMS-Dengue) in collaboration with
its member countries in order to tackle the disease through these six components:
laboratory, social communication, epidemiology, integrated vector management,
environmental, and patient care. The Organization considers patient care to be a
vital component and has made it a priority. The first edition of Dengue: guidelines
for the care of patients in the Region of the Americas was published (in Spanish)
in 2010, based on a WHO document published for the same purpose in 2009.
Implementation of the first edition in the Americas was followed by extensive training
of health care workers, specifically on timely diagnosis, classification, and case
management, with an emphasis on primary care. Recent advances in diagnostic
procedures and clinical management make it necessary to update the information
on the care of patients with dengue.
This second edition of Dengue: guidelines for patient care in the Region of the
Americas includes information on the clinical manifestations of the disease, care
and treatment, epidemiological surveillance, and laboratory diagnosis. It also
includes new information on the reorganization of health services during outbreaks
and epidemics, which will be very useful to health unit managers. The guidelines
consider this continent’s experiences and are evidence-based at the highest
scientific level.
PAHO/WHO presents this second edition to countries and territories of the
Americas at a time when other arboviral diseases (chikungunya and Zika) have
been introduced into the Region. Therefore, it is essential to ensure accurate and
timely diagnosis of dengue cases, as well as adequate clinical monitoring. These
guidelines—an essential tool for health care workers to correctly manage the
dengue cases that appear daily in our countries––seek to prevent the progression
to the severe forms of dengue and deaths caused by the disease. | en_US |