In the Americas there are already more than 8 million cases of dengue: the epidemic is unprecedented

“Experts warn that large dengue outbreaks could be the norm in the future as climate change causes longer, warmer rainy seasons”said Beatriz García Nice, an expert at the Wilson Center.

“In Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, among others, dengue has tested health systems,” he added.

Sylvain Aldighieri, PAHO director of the department of prevention of communicable diseases, said that “2024 runs a great risk of being the year of dengue with the highest number of cases documented so far.”

This week, PAHO issued an epidemiological alert for dengue and indicated that more than 3,600 deaths had been recorded.

The organization urged countries in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean to take measures to stop the epidemic.

In Mexico and some Central American countries, dengue cases until May 24 already had figures between 2.5 and 6 times higher than between January and May 2023, while in the Caribbean region cases totaled 5.7 times more than in the same period last year.

Esper Georges Kallás, director of the Butantán Institute in Brazil, said that the spread of the disease “shows that the transmitting mosquito is very resilient.”

In the spread of the disease, Kallás added, climate change and the socio-economic conditions in which sectors of the population live also play a role and that contribute to “an exponential growth” of infection.

Dengue is a febrile illness transmitted by the bite of a mosquito (Aedes aegypti) distributed in the Americas and affecting infants, children and adults.

According to PAHO, there is no specialized medicine to treat dengue whose infection can occur without symptoms, or can be evidenced by symptoms ranging from a moderate fever to a high and disabling fever, headaches, muscle aches and rashes.

The disease can take a severe course evidenced by shock, difficulty breathing, severe bleeding, and organ complications.

Global warming is expanding the habitat of the mosquitoes that transmit this viral infection, the arbovirus expert from the WHO epidemic and pandemic prevention department, Diana Rojas, recalled at a press conference.

As a result, half of the world’s population, or about 4 billion people, are at risk of becoming infected with dengue, the disease most commonly transmitted by mosquitoes.

“Most people do not develop symptoms, but those who do may suffer from high fever, headaches, body aches, nausea… in many cases they recover in one or two weeks, but sometimes the situation can worsen.” worsen,” the expert recalled.

The WHO adds that People who become infected a second time are at greater risk of the disease getting worse. Children under one year of age, pregnant women, and adults over 65 are also at greater risk.

Symptoms of severe dengue usually occur when the fever disappears. They are the following:

• severe abdominal pain
• persistent vomiting
• accelerated breathing
• bleeding in the gums or nose
• fatigue
• agitation
• vomiting or bloody stools
• intense thirst
• pale and cold skin
• general weakness

People who present these symptoms should be treated immediately. After healing, the person may feel tired for several weeks.