Three in ten Brazilians say they have had dengue, says survey

A survey carried out with 2,000 people showed that three in ten Brazilians say they have already been affected by dengue — 69% of survey participants say they know someone who has already had the disease. Among people who have already had dengue, 69% were diagnosed once, 23% twice and 6% three times or more.

The data comes from a survey carried out by Ipsos, at the request of the biopharmaceutical company Takeda and with the scientific coordination of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases (SBI).

Dengue affects babies, children and adults. According to the Pan American Health Organization, the infection can be asymptomatic or can present symptoms that vary between: fever, headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain and skin rashes.

The disease is popular in Brazil and 99% of those interviewed say they know it. Among the numbers, 67% remembered dengue when asked about which disease outbreaks are recurrent in Brazil – a much higher rate than the 39% in the first edition of the survey, carried out in November 2021.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, there are more than 1.6 million registered cases of dengue in Brazil and a thousand deaths in 2023, surpassing the cases in 2022 (around 1.4 million) and almost reaching the same level of deaths (1,016 ).

Despite their knowledge of dengue, 69% of those interviewed were unable to answer how many times a person can contract the disease and only 2% got the answer right: 4 times. “There is a false idea of ​​immunization after dengue infection, that is, the person who has already caught it believes they are immune to the disease.”, analyzes Dr. Alberto Chebabo, infectious disease doctor and president of SBI, in a statement.

The vaccine that prevents dengue began to be made available in private clinics in July this year, however, 73% of those interviewed were still unaware of the form of prevention. Among those who have heard about the subject, 86% say they believe in its effectiveness and are in favor of it.