The accumulated number of cases in 2024 will be 3 times higher than last year, according to the Pan American Health Organization
With more than 3.5 million cases of dengue recorded in the first 3 months of the year, the American continent could record, in 2024, the worst outbreak of the disease in history.
The accumulated number of registrations is 3 times greater than the total for the same period last year. The alert was made this Thursday (28.mar.2024) by Oops (Pan American Health Organization).
Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, according to the entity, account for more than 90% of cases and more than 80% of deaths from dengue in the Americas. Opas data show that Brazil appears in 1st place in the rankingwith more than 2 million cases and more than 800 deaths, followed by Paraguay, with around 190 thousand cases and 50 deaths, and Argentina, with 134 thousand cases and 96 deaths.
In an interview with journalists, the director general of PAHO, Jarbas Barbosa, classified the situation on the continent as worrying. He recalled that even countries such as Barbados, Costa Rica and Guatemala, where dengue outbreaks usually occur in the second half of the year, are already reporting an increase in cases of the disease. Puerto Rico, for example, declared a dengue emergency at the beginning of the week.
Jarbas highlighted that, in 2024, 4 dengue serotypes circulate throughout the Americas and that, when 2 or more serotypes circulate, the risk of serious cases increases considerably. To date, data from PAHO indicate that at least 21 countries on the continent have reported the circulation of more than one serotype, including Brazil.
For the director general of PAHO, environmental causes play a “fundamental role” in the epidemiological scenario identified in the Americas. Jarbas cited, as an example, high temperatures, heat waves and intense droughts that lead the population to store water inappropriately, as well as floods that contribute to the increase in the circulation of the mosquito vector.
Asked whether it would be a case of declaring a public health emergency of international concern, as happened with the Zika virus in 2016, Jarbas explained that these are very different scenarios. In 2016, according to him, the emergency was declared due to a strong relationship between the Zika virus and cases of microcephaly in babies whose mothers were infected.
“The WHO [Organização Mundial da Saúde]rightly, declared the emergency until we could have an assessment of what was happening”he said. “In dengue, the only new thing is the increase in transmission, but there is no change in the clinical expression of the disease or in the symptoms”he completed.
“Dengue is an important challenge. When we have an epidemic, circulation is so strong that almost everyone has contact with that serotype. Then we spend a period of 3 or 4 years until we have another outbreak. It seems like the disease has disappeared, gone away.”concluded Jarbas, highlighting the need for permanent programs in the Americas to identify new outbreaks early.
With information from Agência Brasil.
