This week, the number of dengue cases across the Americas is expected to exceed 5.2 million in 2024, with the United Nations health agency calling it an “emergency.”
Gervase Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), said: Confirmed The surprisingly high numbers were announced at Thursday’s press conference. daily mail report.
The number of infections has increased by nearly 50 percent from the staggering 3.5 million cases already recorded as of last month.
“We are in a state of emergency because of dengue fever,” Barbosa told reporters.
More than 1,800 people have died from the mosquito-borne disease in the Americas, a sharp increase from the nearly 1,000 deaths reported last month from January to March.
The health director said that while cases in certain countries “appear to be stabilizing or declining,” South American countries such as Argentina and Brazil “remain highly contagious.”
City health department officials inspect the gardens of residential buildings for the presence of mosquito larvae during the fight against the dengue fever epidemic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. In the Southern Hemisphere, the number of dengue fever cases has exceeded 3.5 million, and attention is on the wave. According to the Pan American Health Organization, cases have been reported across the region, with 83% of cases concentrated in Brazil. (Lucas Landau/Bloomberg via Getty)
Barbosa warned that the availability of existing dengue vaccines was “very limited” and said the outbreak would remain strong even if supplies increased.
“Dengue vaccines can play an important role in reducing severe deaths, but it will take time for the effects of the vaccine to be reflected in a reduction in dengue cases,” he said.
The disease is so prevalent in Brazil that “tent hospitals have been erected in Brasilia and other cities at strategic points to triage patients infected with the virus,” the Daily Mail reported.
Dengue fever is also called a “bone-breaking disease.” [more commonly “breakbone fever”] That’s because it can cause “severe joint and muscle pain that can feel like bones are breaking,” the paper said.
According to PAHO, approx. 500 million people People in the Americas are currently “at risk” of contracting dengue fever.
Despite the severity of the disease, the case fatality rate in 2023 was only 0.051%. Patients usually recover once the unpleasant flu-like symptoms and pain subside.
In the United States, two locally transmitted cases have been reported in Florida so far this year. No dengue cases have yet been registered outside the Sunshine State.
