Merchants and Residents Demand Urgent Fumigation Amid Dengue Outbreak in Chetumal

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — Merchants at the Lázaro Cárdenas market, known locally as the “Nuevo” market, along with residents and shopkeepers on CNC street, are demanding urgent action from health authorities after a sharp increase in dengue cases over the past two weeks.

Affected individuals are calling on the Quintana Roo Health Department (SESA) and the Othón P. Blanco municipal government to immediately launch comprehensive clean-up and fumigation campaigns, including the removal of potential mosquito breeding sites.

According to traders, multiple workers and family heads have fallen ill with classic dengue symptoms — high fever, severe body aches, and low platelet counts — forcing them to close their businesses and rest. The cases have been concentrated in the last seven to 14 days.

Complainants pointed to the market’s surroundings and the sewers along CNC street as likely breeding grounds for the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which thrives in stagnant water during the rainy season. They urged vector control teams to inspect stalls and nearby homes, apply larvicides, and conduct heavy thermal fogging before the outbreak spirals into a local epidemic.

Residents also called on the city council to coordinate the collection of discarded items, tires, and containers that accumulate water in patios and market storage areas. They warned that the health of hundreds of families and thousands of daily shoppers is at serious risk if authorities fail to act.