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The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital has sounded the alarm over a surge in cases of dengue fever, particularly in the Belize District. The national referral hospital has seen a sharp increase in the number of cases over the past few weeks, many of which end up in hospitalization. Emergency Room Physician Dr. Rigo Montejo told Love News that a spike in dengue cases is expected once the rainy season starts. Currently, however, the number of cases observed is more than three times the normal estimates.
Dr. Rigo Montejo, Emergency Room Physician, KHMH: “So the normal what you would expect when you say the dengue season is on, when the rainy season starts, normal would be maybe two daily cases in the hospital setting diagnosed by doctors in the hospital. Some cases are diagnosed in the clinic and they get sent to us because they have some type of complication or they have other conditions like diabetes or heart condition and then that poses extra risk for them. But presently we are seeing upwards of six, seven, eight, eight cases per day and that’s just my shift, that’s not the other shifts of the other doctors. Okay? As we speak right now we have in the emergency room, hosted because upstairs is over full, the beds are full, we have hosted about five cases admitted in hospital right now. And that’s not to mention the ones that are presently under investigation for dengue under investigation means you have symptoms, have signs, and we’re doing some labs for you while you’re waiting for your results. So this has been going on for the last two or three weeks every day.”
According to Dr. Montejo, many of the more complicated cases in the hospital are small children, elderly people, and those with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or hypertension. He advised that people who either have or are suspected of having Dengue are to avoid taking certain pain medications, which could worsen their symptoms.
Dr. Rigo Montejo, Emergency Room Physician, KHMH: “Treatment is usually just symptoms. Tylenol, right? I want to urge the population try not to drink Ibuprofen and Diclofenac if you think you might have dengue. If your family member was diagnosed with dengue or you have dengue symptoms try not to take Diclofenac or Ibuprofen especially if you’re going to take that for three or four days, right? So Tylenol and they’re kind of similar to Diclofenac, right? People take it for fever and pain but they’re different. The mechanism by which they do that is different. And the Diclofenac is an anti-inflammatory medication, but it can have negative effects on the stomach, for example. And if your platelet count is low because you have Dengue and you don’t know and you are taking Diclofenac for three or four days and you’re taking it three or four times a day you can start to bleed from the stomach. Right? You can start to bleed from the stomach. So we don’t want to do that. So the safest thing to do, even aspirin you want to stay away from aspirin. Stay away from aspirin. So, Tylenol. Stick to Tylenol. You can take Tylenol every four hours. You can take Tylenol, you can go take a bath, bring down the fever, right? Make sure you hydrate properly and stuff like that.”
Data from the Ministry of Health and Wellness showed that the Belize District saw 90 cases of dengue in 2024, but there were already 160 cases recorded at the end of June 2025. The ministry is reportedly engaged in various interventions, such as clean-up campaigns and spraying mosquito breeding sites, which are ongoing in various communities.
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