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Today we spoke to Director of Health Services Dr. Marvin Manzanero about this case and about the extra efforts the Ministry of Health is making to control mosquito populations.

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services
"I am aware that there is a patient that died. I think she is a female, I think she is 14 years old. The preliminary report I had gotten was that she has a positive dengue test in the system, but I don't have the particulars of what other issues she may have had. I believe she was in the system for less than 14 hours before she died at Karl Heusner. So what we do in those particular cases when there is any suspicious death, not because its dengue, because of her rapid progression of where she made contact to the system to when she died. We are launching an investigation. That investigation is being done at San Ignacio first and in Belmopan simultaneously and then Karl Heusner to find out what happen. So I am not so sure if there were any pre-condition that could have taken her to where she arrive and deteriorated very quickly."

Reporter
"Would it be most likely that the dengue could have factored in her death?"

Dr. Marvin Manzanero
"Dengue itself could have, because I don't know for how long she was ill before she made contact with the system. If she was out of medication - I don't have any of those particulars. That's going to come up in the investigation."

"I think the results should be out maybe by the end of day and I don't know if the autopsy is still being considered."

Reporter
"Based on the results, if it is dengue is the cause of death, what happens now in terms of looking and tracing back where she was?"

Dr. Marvin Manzanero
"People will die of dengue. People should not be dying of dengue, which is not the same thing. Its the same message. I know people have been telling us we are not spraying enough, I am not so sure how much we are doing as a community in ensuring that we are doing our part. Spraying is never going to be enough and spraying is not going to be the answer for dengue."

Reporter
"What are you seeing in terms of the figures compared to last year? Has there been an increase?"

Dr. Marvin Manzanero
"By May we had more cases than the amount we had in total 2018. SO the numbers are much higher than last year."

Reporter
"So the vector control team is doing much more than last year in terms of spraying."

Dr. Marvin Manzanero
"Yes, we have had to go twice for supplementary budget in terms of procuring insecticides, repellents, bed nets and hiring people part time to help with the spraying."

There has been an outpouring of support for the Moreno family on social media. In a post on Instagram it states "The Sacred Heart College family lost Jennifer Moreno to the dengue virus. While she is no longer with us, she is above watching over us...words can't take away the pain, but we extend our deepest condolences to her family and friends."

In August, PAHO reported that Honduras had recorded 109 dengue deaths this year. Additionally, across Latin America and the Caribbean, 720 have died, according to PAHO.