It was June 3, I already returned back to Cusco. Technicality, this day was my first day to explore the city. I started my journey in the beautiful city of Cusco by visiting a public hospital and meeting with physicians. The first meeting was with dr. Alex. He was an epidemiologist in Cusco. He explained some of the major epidemics that took place in Peru, in Cusco specifically. It was interesting to learn that respiratory issues in Cusco usually increases between April and August, according to him. With the increase of respiratory infections, vector-borne diseases increases as well. The hospital have tackled several disease since 2016 such as Dengue, Zika, Malaria, Leishmaniasis, Yellow fever, and the last outbreak that took place in Cusco recently was Fiebre de Oropouche disease. It was a new disease transmitted via Mosquitos.
Due to the enormous amount of vector borne diseases in Cusco province, authorities are discussing building a research center for disease in the City of Cusco. However, most affected areas ate usually rural areas in Cusco. Therefore, they, Healthcare providers, have divided the regions in Peru into three levels; depending on existence of mosquitoes and number of reported cases. Areas without mosquitoes and without reported cases, they labeled it as “green” . Areas with mosquitoes but without any reported cases, are “yellow”. “red” areas were locations where mosquitoes and reported cases have be announced. They were the most dangerous of all three regions and people should be cautious when traveling from or to it. Death rate caused by vector borne diseases have reached 681,100 in Peru, according to dr. Valeria Gonzales, another epidemiologist at the meeting. Luckily, numbers have dropped 74% in the past two years. They are determined to reduce it even more until they end the transmission of all diseases in Cusco!
My Name is Haifa 