Dengue cases in the city of SP are the highest in 7 years – 04/12/2023 – Health

The number of patients with dengue in the city of São Paulo from January until last Monday (10) is the highest in seven years, according to data from the Municipal Health Surveillance Coordination.

According to the body linked to the Municipal Health Department, 3,190 confirmed cases of the disease were recorded this year, 52% more than in the same period last year.

Since 2016, a year with an explosion in the number of people with dengue in the country (9,197 cases in the capital, between January and early April), the statistic has not been so high.

To try to reduce the numbers, the city says it will start this Wednesday (12) to install 20,000 traps for the self-dissemination of larvicide capable of killing larvae in an area of ​​400 square meters, in addition to the female mosquito itself. aedes aegyptiattracted to the plastic device where it ends up ingesting larvicide and fungus.

According to Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB), Health Surveillance tested 200 of these traps between 2020 and 2022 in Brasilândia and Vila Nova Cachoeirinha, in the north zone.

The 20 thousand units will be distributed in the six Regional Health Coordinations —Brasilândia, Jardim Ângela, Raposo Tavares, Sacomã, Itaquera and Santa Cecília.

The cost for the 12-month contract is around BRL 8.9 million, which includes, in addition to traps, inputs and maintenance, software for counting insects.

“We are looking for innovation to combat the Aedes“, says Nunes, who will present the trap project this Wednesday morning.

Asked about the reason for the increase in cases this year, the city hall says that the epidemiological study for the year 2023 is still in progress, but states that dengue, zika and chikungunya generally intensify in the summer period, as the heat and rain are favorable factors for the mosquito that transmits these diseases.

Biologist Tamara Nunes de Lima Camara, professor at the Department of Epidemiology at the USP School of Public Health, explains that, in addition to the effects of global warming that make the temperature higher, there are several factors to explain the increase in the number of dengue cases.

Among them, she mentions that there has been a drop in information campaigns against the disease in the last two years, during the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the fact that public health actions are concentrated in the pandemic. This, says the teacher, caused relaxation in the population.

The Ministry of Health says that the epidemiological scenario of dengue in Brazil has shown a cyclical pattern, with alternation of the four subtypes of the virus that causes the disease. Therefore, epidemic periods, with a high number of cases, are interspersed with periods with smaller numbers.

For Maria Anice Mureb Sallum, also a professor at the Department of Epidemiology at the Faculty of Public Health at USP, the adoption of specific control actions and campaigns is not enough.

It is necessary to expand basic sanitation programs, he says, so that people are not forced to store water in environments favorable to the vector, improve garbage and waste collection, and reduce urban inequalities.

“The social problem caused by the impoverishment of the population favors the mosquito”, says the professor.

According to the bulletin released on Monday (10), Santana (north zone), Pari (center) and Vila Guilherme (north zone) are currently the neighborhoods with the highest incidence of dengue fever per 100,000 inhabitants in the city of São Paulo.

Due to the increase in March, when there were 1,807 confirmed cases, the city government intensified actions to block the mosquito in the districts with the highest number of cases of the disease in the last week of that month.

This year, according to the municipal administration, 1,379,513 mosquito prevention actions were carried out in the city.

In all, there were 327,852 house-to-house visits (between routine and intensification), in addition to 13,004 inspections of special properties and strategic points, 1,006,666 actions to block breeding sites and misting, among others.

According to Professor Sallum, combat actions require greater participation by society, including residents, governments and scientists. “As long as they don’t make adequate programs so that people come to understand the mosquito problem, we won’t have sustainable control measures.”

The professor says that the insecticides used in nebulization today do not solve the problem, as they kill mosquitoes, but not the resistance of eggs in environments that accumulate water. “It is necessary to change the class of products.”

In a note, the Ministry of Health says that all states are supplied with three different types of insecticides to control the Aedes aegypti.

The folder also claims to have installed an Emergency Operations Center (COE Arboviroses) to work in the control and reduction of serious cases of the disease and others transmitted by mosquitoes.

To support states and municipalities that have signaled a growing increase in cases of dengue and other arboviruses, the federal ministry says it has sent technical support teams to reinforce epidemiological surveillance actions, vector control and assistance.

Dengue

The main symptoms of dengue are

• High fever (above 38°C)
• Body and joint pain
• pain behind eyes
• malaise
• Lack of appetite
• Headache
• Red spots on the body

Signs of serious cases (look for the health service)

• bleeding
• organ dysfunction
• plasma leakage
• The risks increase when the patient has a chronic disease, such as bronchial asthma, diabetes mellitus, sickle cell anemia, hypertension, in addition to previous infections by other serotypes.

Recommendation for mild cases

• Rest while the fever lasts
• Stimulation of fluid intake
• Administration of paracetamol or dipyrone in case of pain or fever
• Non-administration of acetylsalicylic acid

Source: Ministry of Health