Health

Brazil faces more than 700,000 dengue cases in two months

By Alex Mirkhan and Carlos Meneses

Brasilia, Feb 22 (EFE).- In the midst of the worst outbreak in recent years, Brazil fights dengue door-to-door with fumigation and awareness campaigns aimed to eliminate the country’s number one enemy: the Aedes aegypti mosquito (yellow fever mosquito).

In the first few months of 2024, there were 715,000 cases and 135 deaths reported across Brazil.

According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, 481 deaths are under investigation as they could also be disease-related.

The number of infections between January and February represents nearly half of those registered last year (1,658,816) when all alarms started to go off.

The situation has escalated in at least seven of Brazil’s 27 states, including two of the three most populated: Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, which officially declared a dengue epidemic on Wednesday.

Brasilia, in a state of emergency

With an incidence rate of almost 3,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the Federal District of Brasilia is the most affected.

The Brazilian Air Force has set up a field hospital to alleviate pressure on the healthcare system.

They are acting on two fronts: fumigating with low-intensity insecticide and encouraging the population to help prevent mosquito proliferation within their homes, where 75% of infections occur, according to official estimates.

The plan encourages people to eliminate all traces of garbage and avoid water accumulation in their homes to prevent breeding sites used by the Aedes aegypti.

In Ceilândia, one of Brasilia’s most populated neighborhoods, a “patrol” with three health agents fumigates each street and residence twice with backpacks that seem taken from a space movie called ULV Backpack Nebulizer.

Before fumigation, they notify residents to remove clothes lying around, open all windows and doors, and take the pets out of the house.

The process doesn’t take long, and the isecticide dissipates quickly, so people can soon return to their homes.

“We pass twice to eliminate the mosquitoes that are circulating and transmitting dengue,” explains João Fernandes, an Environmental Health Surveillance agent in Brasilia to EFE.

On Ceilândia street it is not difficult to find people who have just recovered from dengue fever or are currently struggling with it.

“My niece had dengue twice already, and now again; also, my son and my grandson are having symptoms,” says Edna Silva Couto, a 67-year-old housewife to EFE.

Mateus Fernandes, 31, is a ride-hailing driver who has been suffering from dengue since Sunday: high fever, severe body aches, and headaches. He went to the clinic, was tested, and came back positive.

“Now I have to rest, drink a lot of fluids, take electrolytes, mostly stay hydrated…,” he says. He mentions that he knows at least a dozen people in his street who have gone through the same disease.

While going to the hospital is somewhat unusual around here. Many of the infected neighbors have preferred to stay home due to the chronic saturation of the public healthcare system.

Related Articles

Back to top button