Dengue: DF, Minas Gerais and Acre have higher transmissions – 02/15/2024 – Health

Federal District, Minas Gerais and Acre are the federative units with the highest rate of dengue transmission in Brazil, amid outbreaks of the disease, according to data from the Ministry of Health (MS).

The country has already surpassed the mark of half a million probable cases of dengue in the first six epidemiological weeks of the year — almost quadruple the number recorded last year (128,842).

The incidence coefficient (INC), the MS criterion for classifying the disease in relation to the population, allows us to determine in which areas there is a higher or lower incidence of it. The higher the INC, the greater the transmission.

The index is also used to define where there is a dengue epidemic (coefficient above 300). To date, five states (Minas Gerais, Acre, Paraná, Goiás and Espírito Santo) fall into this classification, in addition to the Federal District, according to data from the Arbovirus Monitoring Panel of the Ministry of Health.

Acre, Minas Gerais, Distrito Federal and Goiás declared a health emergency.

Ceará, Alagoas and Maranhão —all in the Northeast—, on the other hand, are the states with the lowest transmission rates.

Doctor Alexandre Naime Barbosa, from the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases, states that climatic issues, such as heat and increased rainfall, in addition to failure in control programs, can influence the difference in incidence.

The places with the highest transmission rate, he says, have a greater proliferation of the dengue vector, circulation of new serotypes of the virus and a higher prevalence of susceptible individuals.

See on the map which states in Brazil have a higher or lower incidence of dengue.

Dengue deaths

At least 84 people died as a result of dengue fever in the first five weeks of 2024, according to information released this Wednesday (14) by the Ministry of Health. Another 346 deaths are under investigation.

According to the ministry, the country has more than 226 thousand confirmed cases of the disease and around 298 thousand classified as probable. There is a projection of 4.2 million cases of dengue in the country in 2024.

Vaccination

On Thursday (8) last week, the MS began distributing the dengue vaccine to the states. This first shipment, with 712,184 doses of Qdenga, will be destined for children aged 10 to 11 in the municipalities selected by the ministry in conjunction with Conass (National Council of Health Secretaries) and Conasems (National Council of Municipal Health Secretaries).

In the state of São Paulo, the cities of Guarulhos (34,270 doses), Suzano (8,409), Guararema (800), Itaquaquecetuba (10,960), Ferraz de Vasconcelos (4,994), Mogi das Cruzes (12,143), Poá ( 2,834), Arujá (2,343), Santa Isabel (1,423), Biritiba-Mirim (821) and Salesópolis (419).