Dengue soars in the country and government creates emergency center – 03/17/2023 – Daily life

With the increase in cases of dengue, chikungunya and zika in the country, the Ministry of Health installed an Arbovirus Emergency Operations Center, with the aim of developing strategies to control and reduce serious cases and deaths.

The alert occurs due to the increase in the records of these diseases, such as dengue cases, which grew 43.8% until March this year, when compared to the same period last year. Chikungunya notifications increased by 97%.

In 2022, between January and early March, 209,900 probable cases of dengue were reported. In 2023, the number jumped to 301.8 thousand, in the same period of time, an incidence of 141.5 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.

So far this year, 73 deaths from the disease have been reported. Another 64 are still under investigation. In the same period last year, the total number of confirmed deaths was 172.

The region with the highest incidence of dengue in 2023 is the Midwest, with 254.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by the Southeast, with 214.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and the South, with 98.2 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.

Espírito Santo was the state with the highest increase in incidence, with 921.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Mato Grosso do Sul, with 432.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and Minas Gerais, with 392.1 cases. per 100,000 inhabitants.

In 2023, also between January and early March, there were 43,000 probable cases of chikungunya, an increase of 97.1% when compared to the same period in 2022. One death was confirmed this year in Espirito Santo and another 13 are under investigation . Last year, in the same period, there were 14 deaths.

“With the activation of the COE, the folder will monitor the situation, with emphasis on dengue and chikungunya, to guide the execution of actions aimed at epidemiological surveillance, laboratory, assistance and vector control. The planning of actions and the coordinated response will be carried out together with states and municipalities”, said the folder, in a note.

With regard to zika, between January and the end of February this year, 1,194 probable cases of the disease were reported, an increase of 35.2% when compared to the same period in 2022, when 883 probable cases were registered.

The North region of the country presents, in 2023, the highest incidence of the disease, with 2.8 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, followed by the Northeast regions, with 1.0 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants and the South, with 0.5 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants. 100 thousand inhabitants.

Such as Sheet showed, the Ministry of Health is out of stock of an insecticide used to combat disease-transmitting mosquitoes and has been trying to buy the input since the end of 2021, which has jeopardized the supply of states and municipalities.

The product is used in the nebulization process, the so-called fogging, to control the aedes aegyptiwhich transmits dengue, zika virus, chikungunya and yellow fever.

Júlio Croda, president of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine, explains that it is difficult to establish that the upward trend in numbers will continue, despite favorable weather conditions.

“We are having a rainy and hot summer. Generally, when the rain stops and it starts to warm up, there is an increase in cases. In Brazil, the peak of dengue is generally from April. We had a year of 2022 with many cases , very similar to the worst of the last four years, which was 2019. Generally, when one year has many cases, the next will not be the same even with favorable weather conditions. This is the dengue pattern in Brazil. There are not two very bad years “, he states.

“In the case of chikungunya, in 2022, there was no major outbreak of the disease, despite having been the year with the most cases, compared to the last four, according to the epidemiological bulletin of the Ministry of Health.”

For him, it is up to the government to guarantee a better basic sanitation structure throughout the country. The population needs to check and eliminate outbreaks every seven days.

“In terms of public authorities, we have repeated cycles of dengue epidemics because there is a lack of running water on a regular basis, garbage collection. These are structural characteristics that favor the proliferation of the mosquito, because people accumulate garbage, water at home and the mosquito becomes reproduces in these environments”, concludes Croda.