Recorded cases of dengue fever in the Americas have nearly tripled, reaching a record high of more than 12.6 million people this year, including 21,000 severe cases and more than 7,700 deaths, the Pan American Health Organization said on Tuesday (10). .
This year’s outbreak of dengue fever, the most common mosquito-borne disease worldwide, is the largest since records began in 1980, according to PAHO, which has called for stronger mitigation efforts.
The deadly viral disease has hit Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico especially hard, with the four Latin American nations accounting for 90% of cases and 88% of deaths, according to a PAHO statement.
Children are at high risk of contracting dengue and suffering more serious consequences.
In Guatemala, children represented 70% of dengue-related deaths, while children under 15 years of age accounted for more than a third of serious cases in Mexico, Costa Rica and Paraguay, according to PAHO data.
The organization, the Americas branch of the UN World Health Organization, notes that climate events throughout the region have favored the proliferation of mosquitoes, in addition to citing water accumulation and poor waste management as factors that drive the reproduction of insects. that carry and spread dengue fever.
About 4 billion people, or about half the world’s population, live in areas at risk of contracting dengue fever, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
2024 is expected to be the hottest year on record, according to the WMO
This content was originally published in Record dengue outbreak in the Americas killed 7,700 people in 2024, according to Opas on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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