It is an epidemic that returns in cycles in Latin America. Dengue fever is back and stronger than ever, causing millions of cases, thousands of deaths and shortages of mosquito repellent. South American health authorities are calling for “collective action” to stem the spread of the virus which is transmitted by mosquito bites. 20 minutes takes stock of this epidemic which is driving the South American continent crazy.
Dengue fever, a relatively fatal disease
Dengue is a viral disease that causes high fever with, in rare cases, progressing to a more serious form causing bleeding. Deaths are very rare – about 0.01% of all cases.
Widespread in hot countries, the virus occurs mainly in urban and semi-urban areas and causes 100 to 400 million infections per year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Worrying records
The year 2024 will be “probably that of the worst dengue season ever recorded in America”, underlined during a press conference Jarbas Barbosa, the director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), regional version of the WHO. In less than three months in 2024, health authorities in the region have already recorded more than 3.5 million cases and a thousand deaths due to this virus transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito.
“This is a cause for concern because it represents three times more cases reported than on the same date in 2023, a record year with more than 4.5 million cases,” according to Jarbas Barbosa. In a report published in early April, PAHO “calls for collective action” and “to intensify efforts to eliminate mosquito breeding sites, strengthen the capacities of health services for early diagnosis and rapid treatment, and educate the public to prevention and identification of symptoms.
Three countries particularly affected
The increase in the number of infections is seen in all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, but especially in three countries in the Southern Cone: Brazil (81%), followed by Paraguay (6%) and Argentina. (3.4%), which represent 92% of all cases and 87% of deaths.
“The subregion experienced an increase of 254% in cases compared to the same period in 2023 and of 408% compared to the average of the last five years,” adds PAHO, according to which there was also an increase in cases in Barbados, Costa Rica, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Martinique and Mexico.
Hysteria in Argentina
Argentina, faced with a humid southern summer, an overpopulation of mosquitoes and a record dengue outbreak, suffered from a shortage of repellent that bordered on hysteria. For weeks we have no longer found repellents, whether in spray, cream or spiral, in supermarkets and pharmacies in Buenos Aires.
Testimonies of altercations or fights over rare available bottles are multiplying. And if you can buy small cans of spray on the Internet, normally between 5,000 and 6,000 pesos (around 6 dollars), it’s for six to seven times that price.
The ultraliberal government of President Javier Milei was questioned on the subject, criticized by the opposition for its “absence”. Although hostile by nature to any state intervention, he had to act on Thursday, exempting from taxes the importation of repellents, exceptionally for 30 days, “given the current epidemiological context and the increase in demand”.