Record numbers of cases of the mosquito-borne virus have been reported in the Southern Hemisphere summer, and the surge is likely to move north.
Brazil is experiencing an enormous outbreak of dengue fever, the sometimes fatal mosquito-borne disease, and public health experts say it is a harbinger of a coming surge in cases in the Americas, including Puerto Rico.
Brazil’s Health Ministry warns that it expects more than 4.2 million cases this year, outstripping the 4.1 million cases the Pan-American Health Organization recorded for all 42 countries in the region last year.
Brazil was due for a bad dengue year — numbers of cases of the virus typically rise and fall on a roughly four-year cycle — but experts say a number of factors, including El Niño and climate change, have significantly amplified the problem this year.
“The record heat in the country and the above-average rainfall since last year, even before the summer, have increased the number of mosquito breeding sites in Brazil, even in regions that had few cases of the disease,” Brazil’s health minister, Nísia Trindade, said.
Dengue case numbers have already soared in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in the last few months, during the Southern Hemisphere summer, and the virus will move up through the continents with the seasons.
As an American that contracted dengue on a visit overseas: we do not want dengue. 2 weeks of pain and suffering. Not fun, 2 stars (was exactly as described).
Dengue is already in the States and as global warming worsens it’ll spread countrywide, so better get used to it.
Bro rubber necking hard. Great pic, NY Times!
The Aedes mosquito that spreads dengue breeds in stagnant water. The best way to fight dengue is to remove stagnant pools of water, especially in landfills, old tires, planters, toilet cisterns, drains etc. There is currently no specific cure for dengue.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Brazil is experiencing an enormous outbreak of dengue fever, the sometimes fatal mosquito-borne disease, and public health experts say it is a harbinger of a coming surge in cases in the Americas, including Puerto Rico.
Dengue case numbers have already soared in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in the last few months, during the Southern Hemisphere summer, and the virus will move up through the continents with the seasons.
In the United States, Dr. Gabriela Paz-Bailey, chief of the dengue branch at the division of vector-borne diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that she expected high rates of dengue infection in Puerto Rico this year and that there would be more cases in the continental United States as well, especially in Florida, as well as in Texas, Arizona and Southern California.
Dengue is spread by Aedes aegypti, a species of mosquito that is becoming established in new regions, including warmer, wetter parts of the United States, where it had never been seen until the past few years.
Brazil has started an emergency campaign to immunize children in areas with the highest rates or risk of dengue transmission, using a two-dose vaccine called Qdenga that is made by the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company of Japan.
The research center will ask the Brazilian government to approve the vaccine, and it has facilities to produce it, aiming to start delivering shots in 2025.
The original article contains 1,184 words, the summary contains 232 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
