Pernambuco identifies 4 cases of type 3 dengue fever – 11/30/2023 – Health

The Pernambuco State Health Department identified four cases of dengue serotype 3. In Brazil, the lineage had been missing for around 15 years.

The positive samples were confirmed this Tuesday (28) by Lacen (Pernambuco Central Public Health Laboratory) and belong to three women and one man who live at the same address in the city of Paulista. None of the patients had serious complications.

Just over a week ago, another four cases of dengue 3 had been confirmed in Votuporanga (521 km from São Paulo).

In September, professor at UFRN (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte) Kleber Luz, coordinator of the Arbovirus Committee at SBI (Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases) and consultant for arboviruses at PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), warned of the possibility of a dengue epidemic 3.

“There is a chance of a more important epidemic, with deaths,” the infectious disease specialist told the reporter.

The dengue virus has four serotypes. When an individual is infected by one of them, they acquire immunity against that subtype, but are still susceptible to the others. There is a danger of severe dengue, which occurs more frequently in people who have already had the disease and are infected again by another serotype. This is what can happen with type 3 infection.

Among the warning signs are the classic ones, such as fever, red spots on the body, abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, also accompanied by bleeding from the gums, nose or urine. When noticing any symptoms, citizens are advised to seek medical attention at the nearest health unit.

The Ministry of Health stated that it has been monitoring samples of the subtype, which this year were also detected in Paraná, Santa Catarina and the Federal District. After epidemiological investigation it was found that they came from foreign patients.

Kleber Luz states that municipal and state surveillance needs to train doctors and nurses to manage it. It is also necessary to equip and prepare health units, hospitals and ICUs (intensive care units) for a large number of patients, in addition to creating or implementing contingency plans.