The variety of dengue fever circumstances in Brazil since January 1 is 4 instances larger than the identical interval final 12 months, authorities information confirmed Saturday, forward of the launch of a vaccination marketing campaign.
Within the first 4 weeks of 2024, 262,247 possible circumstances have been registered, in comparison with 65,366 in the identical interval final 12 months, in line with the newest figures accessible from the database of the Brazilian Ministry of Well being.
Fabio Baccheretti, president of the Nationwide Council of Secretaries of Well being, pointed to excessive temperatures as a significant component behind the unfold of the mosquito-borne illness.
“The document temperature on the finish of final 12 months, with the El Nino phenomenon, is a brand new and figuring out issue,” he informed AFP.
Dengue fever has killed 29 folks this 12 months in Latin America's largest nation, and a further 173 deaths have been assessed for attainable hyperlinks to the illness.
Mosquito-borne dengue fever, which may trigger hemorrhagic fever, infects an estimated 100 million to 400 million folks worldwide annually, though most circumstances are delicate or asymptomatic, the World Well being Group says.
“We’ve seen that dengue is spreading in areas that have been beforehand free in Brazil, so we’ve got to comply with this phenomenon carefully,” warned Baccheretti.
Well being providers are already below stress in lots of metropolitan areas in Brazil as a result of improve in circumstances.
Within the capital district of Brasilia, a area hospital will start receiving dengue sufferers from subsequent week.
Essentially the most affected state thus far is the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, the second most populous in Brazil, with greater than 88,587 possible circumstances reported.
Exterior the state capital of Belo Horizonte, groups of fumigators go door-to-door as a part of a marketing campaign in opposition to disease-spreading mosquitoes.
The members are geared up with gasoline masks and wearing white overalls from head to toe.
“It’s typically tough to enter folks's properties, however they start to see that there are lots of properties round them and turn into extra understanding,” mentioned supervisor Katia Batista.
Two weeks in the past, the Brazilian authorities introduced {that a} free vaccination marketing campaign geared toward 3.2 million folks would happen in February, with precedence given to kids from 10 to 14 years outdated, the group with the very best variety of hospitalizations.
Nevertheless, accessible doses are restricted as a consequence of an absence of provide from the vaccine's developer, Japanese pharmaceutical firm Takeda, Brazil's well being ministry mentioned.
In all, the nation of 203 million folks expects this 12 months to obtain 6.5 million doses of the two-dose vaccine, which is appropriate for youngsters.
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