Authorities in the Brazilian capital have declared a state of emergency due to a sharp increase in the incidence of dengue fever. This was reported in the official online newsletter of the regional government.
“A public health emergency is declared due to the sharp increase in incidence and the risk of a dengue epidemic,” the text of the document says.
The decree applies to the capital, the city of Brasilia, as well as its suburbs that are part of the metropolitan region. The total population of the region where the outbreak occurred is about 5.7 million people.
According to authorities, the number of dengue fever cases since the beginning of the year has already exceeded the same figures for 2023 by 646%. More than 16 thousand people are officially considered sick since January 1. Last year, during the same period, there were only about 2 thousand confirmed cases of the disease. This year the situation is complicated by unusually high levels of precipitation in the region. This facilitates the spread of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, the main vectors of the disease.
The Brazilian Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday the imminent start of the first ever vaccination campaign against dengue fever. The vaccine was created by Brazilian epidemiologists. Last December, it became the first in the world to receive certification for mass vaccination of the population against this disease.
Dengue fever is a tropical disease. The disease came to Brazil at the end of the 19th century from Southeast Asia. Before the advent of the vaccine, the only effective means of combating dengue epidemics was the fight against the habitats of its carriers, mosquitoes.
2024-01-26 00:15:00
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