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Pilar Olivares/Reuters
Nurses care for patients at a dengue emergency medical care unit in Rio de Janeiro on February 6.
Sao Paulo, Brazil
cnn
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Rio de Janeiro has declared a state of public health emergency due to an epidemic of Denguejust a few days before carnival celebrations They will take place throughout Brazil.
The city’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, announced the measure on Monday, according to CNN Brazil affiliate CNN Brazil, in an effort to contain the spread of the mosquito-borne disease, which causes flu-like symptoms and can lead to death in extreme cases.
The increase in dengue The cases have added urgency to a planned nationwide vaccination campaign and also come as Rio prepares for its world-famous Carnival, which officially begins on Friday. Pre-Lent festivities take place across Brazil, with Rio’s colorful parades and block parties, famous for being among the largest parties in the world, as millions of revelers take to the streets.
This year, Rio has already registered more than 11,200 cases of dengue, according to the city council’s epidemiological observatory, compared to almost 23,000 in all of 2023.
In January alone, 362 people were hospitalized in Rio due to dengue, a record that surpasses the previous high from 2008, CNN Brazil reported.
“In a single month of 2024 we already have almost half of the cases of the entire previous year, which generated intense concern,” Rio’s municipal health secretary, Daniel Soranz, said last Friday.
To curb further spread of the disease, the city said it would open 10 care centers across Rio and the Health Ministry has set up an emergency center to coordinate operations, Reuters reported.
Rio is one of three states declaring public health emergencies due to rising dengue infections, including the second most populous state, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District, where the capital Brasilia is located, according to Reuters.
In the first five weeks of the year, nearly 365,000 dengue infections were reported nationwide, four times more than in the same period last year, Reuters reported, citing the Health Ministry. Forty deaths have reportedly been confirmed.
“Several Brazilian cities are facing an emergency situation due to the large increase in dengue cases,” Brazil’s Health Minister Nísia Trindade said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Record heat and above-average rainfall since last year have increased outbreaks of mosquito transmission… Now is the time to step up care and prevention. “Now is the time for all of Brazil to unite against dengue.”
Dengue is a transmitted viral infection through the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same insect responsible for the spread of Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.
It causes throbbing headaches, muscle and joint pain, fever and skin rashes, although only 25% of those infected show symptoms. Extreme cases can cause bleeding, shock, organ failure and potentially death.
Dengue is the most common mosquito-borne virus, infecting millions of people around the world each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although there is no specific treatment for the disease, Brazil plans to implement a mass vaccination campaign against dengue.
Brazil approved the vaccine in March 2023 and became the first country to offer a dengue vaccine in the public health system, according to the Ministry of Health.
The ministry’s plan is to inoculate 3.2 million people in 2024, starting with children aged 10 to 14, with the Qdenga vaccine from the Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda.
“Vaccination will be carried out progressively, given the limited number of doses produced by the manufacturing laboratory,” Nísia said in a statement. “At the same time, the Ministry of Health will coordinate a national effort to expand production and access to dengue vaccines.”
Brasilia will begin vaccinations on Friday, Reuters reported.
Rio’s Municipal Health Department said it was also planning to vaccinate children as soon as the Health Ministry releases doses, CNN Brazil reported.
Clinical trials have shown that the vaccine reduces the risk of severe dengue requiring hospitalization by 80% to 90%. according to an article published in the Lancet magazine last month.
Speaking in Brasilia On Wednesday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the current dengue outbreak in Brazil “is being driven by the El Niño phenomenon,” a natural weather pattern that originates in the Pacific Ocean and influences the global climate. The current Child has become one of the strongest ever recordedaccording to new data from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center.
“In fact, this dengue outbreak is part of a global surge in dengue with more than 5 million cases and 5,000 reported last year in 80 countries in all regions of the world except the European region,” Tedros said.
Of those 5 million reported global cases, almost 3 million occurred in Brazil, according to WHO data.
The global number of dengue cases has increased eight times in the last two decades, according to the WHO, conducted by higher temperatures and prolonged rainy seasons.
Like what was caused by man The climate crisis worsensMosquito-borne diseases will likely spread further and have an increasing impact on human health.
This story has been updated with additional news. Additional information from Reuters.