El Niño and high temperatures favor an increase in dengue cases, infectologists warn

Increase in cases

Heat and intermittent rain facilitate the proliferation of Aedes aegypti

Climate change caused by the phenomenon known as El Niño contributes to infestations by Aedes aegypti and for the explosion of dengue cases registered in Brazil. This is because the combination of high temperatures and intermittent rain is the perfect recipe for mosquito proliferation.

Infectious disease specialist graduated from the Federal University of Bahia and discoverer of the Zika virus in Brazil, doctor Antonio Carlos Bandeira explained that a climate corridor that leaves the Center-West and descends through the western portion of the Southeast and South regions ends up contributing to the increase in Zika cases. dengue not only in Brazil, but in neighboring countries such as Paraguay and Argentina. “That made it easier. It made the Aedes aegypti could be disseminated.”

“That’s what makes things complicated. You have this heat corridor, and it fluctuates, with a lot of rainfall, intensively. That made it a lot easier. Heat and lots of intermittent rain are the main combination for dengue,” she said. “O Aedes aegypti it reproduces faster and lives longer the higher the temperature. This is the situation. It lives longer and multiplies more.”

The infectious disease specialist and consultant for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for dengue fever, Kleber Luz, detailed that El Niño, in fact, contributes to the increase in the number of cases of the disease, as it raises the sea temperature and, consequently, from the continent. “When the temperature increases, the number of mosquitoes, their reproducibility and their lifespan increases. Each mosquito will live longer, increasing the chance of transmission.”

“With climate change, the higher the temperature, the greater the mosquito proliferation. Not only will there be an increase in the number of cases but also an expansion of the area affected by dengue. The South of Brazil, which previously had practically no dengue fever, is now always the second-leading region in the number of cases”,

he said. The state of Paraná, for example, has already recorded almost 17 thousand cases and four deaths caused by the disease since July.

Asked whether dengue symptoms will be stronger in 2024, given the number of hospitalizations across the country, the doctor explains that this thesis is not confirmed. “Dengue is always the same. It is not stronger because of climate change. This only increases the number of cases. And, when the number of cases increases, the number of serious forms of the disease clearly increases because more people need to be hospitalized and more people can die.”

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