Brazil has faced an explosion of dengue cases since the beginning of the year, registering four times more infections during the same period than in 2023, due in particular to the extreme heat wave, prior to the start of a vaccination campaign shortly.
Dengue infections they multiplied in Brazil in the first five weeks of the year, in which 40 deaths and 364,800 probable cases were recorded, almost four times more than in the same period in 2023, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
Since the beginning of the year, 364,855 probable cases of the disease, compared to 93,298 in the same period last year, which represents an increase of 291%. Till the date40 deaths have been confirmed and another 265 are under investigation.
The measures that Brazil will take due to the increase in dengue cases
The exponential increase in cases It is known in the same week in whichhe director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhamon, view of the country. Tedros met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva andcwith the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindadeand made itself available to collaborate in the production of a Brazilian vaccine against dengue.
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Minas Gerais, the second most populous state in the country, declared a state of emergency to facilitate the fight against dengue, as well as Goiás, Acre and the Federal District. The city of Rio de Janeiro also took the same measure on the eve of receiving thousands of tourists for Carnival.
In a speech in national radio and television network On tuesday night, The Minister of Health affirmed that the emergency situation due to dengue requires “additional measures” by federal entities and the population. He announced a increase of 1.5 billion reais in financing for states and municipalities. He also highlighted the installation of the emergency center to coordinate operations to combat dengue with other regional entities.
The vaccine against dengue that will begin to be applied in Brazil
Speaking to Reuters, the Ministry of Health He stated that since 2023 he has been under constant surveillance and alert regarding the epidemic in the country. He added that he had acquired the entire stock of 5.2 million vaccine doses from the Takeda laboratory, which will be delivered between February and November this year.
dengue vaccine
Others 1.32 million doses will be provided at no cost to the federal government. “It is important to highlight that other purchases can be made if the Ministry of Health has doses available,” the ministry said in a statement. For nowthe target audience for vaccination -which will start shortly- sThey will be children and adolescents between 10 and 14 years old. and the doses should be sent to places with a high transmission rate in the last ten years and with the highest number of cases in 2023 and 2024.
The minister He said that the ministry will coordinate a “national effort to expand production and access to dengue vaccines”, although he did not specify a timeline for this to occur. “I call on everyone to national mobilization, governments and society as a whole, so that together we can face the current outbreaks and soon make dengue a disease of the past,” she said.
Source: Ambito
