Dengue Outbreak Sweeps Through Rio
By MERY GALANTERNICK
15 april 2008— Heavy rains over the past month have created a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying the dengue fever virus, deepening a crisis that has claimed at least 80 lives in Rio State.
The dengue strain ravaging this tropical city is now believed to be stronger and more lethal than the virus responsible for an epidemic in 2002, considered the worst in recent history in Brazil, according to Dr. Jacob Kligerman, health secretary for the city.
The spreading epidemic has shown no signs of slowing. Since January, 75,399 people have been infected in Rio State, health officials say. The mortality rate is now more than three times as high as it was during the epidemic in 2002, which claimed 91 lives.
There is no vaccine for dengue, also known as “bone break fever,” which is spread by bites from the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Dengue produces high fever, a rash, nausea, vomiting and severe headaches and joint and muscle pains. The treatment includes pain relievers, rest and fluids. The disease usually lasts about one week.
Children younger than 15, who have little immunity, are the most susceptible to being infected. At least 35 children have died from the disease in Rio State.
As the death toll has mounted, public officials have been slow to react, in part because no one could decide if the mosquito was a city, state or federal issue. In recent days physicians have been brought in from other states, and the federal government has sent in 1,700 members of the armed forces to help anti-disease efforts.
Last week, army and navy service members trained by health officials began a 30-day tour in Rio State, visiting 95,000 homes in an effort to identify breeding grounds for the mosquito and to teach residents how to help prevent the disease. The service members are also giving patients intravenous saline solution to avoid severe dehydration.
The latest outbreak was set off by heavy rains. The mosquito breeds in uncovered water tanks, pools of stagnant water and discarded tires that accumulate water. The shantytowns built along jungle hillsides here provide a fertile mosquito breeding ground.
The dengue outbreak is taking a toll on tourism. The embassies of several countries, including the United States, Portugal and Italy, issued alerts on their Web sites warning about the epidemic in Rio, the main gateway into Brazil for foreign tourists. Two Portuguese tourists were infected in Rio, Portuguese newspapers reported. Officials recommend that visitors wear trousers and long-sleeve shirts, and that they spray insect repellent on uncovered skin three times a day.
When two children died from dengue here last November, the local authorities determined that a second type of dengue virus was present and that it could cause more casualties among children than the 2002 epidemic. In its more severe form, dengue hemorrhagic fever, the illness causes internal bleeding and can eventually kill.
According to the health secretary of the city of Rio, 50 people who have died were infected with hemorrhagic dengue, half of them younger than 12. The toll in the city is more than half of the 91 deaths reported in 2002 for all of Rio State.
In Jacarepaguá, one of the most afflicted neighborhoods in the city, the air force put up 15 barracks with space to care for up to 400 patients a day. “There were many more people needing assistance than we could handle,” said Col. Henry Munhoz, a spokesman for the air force.
Last week, 4,000 former guides to the Pan American Games were called back to help fight the disease. The governor of Rio State, Sérgio Cabral, unveiled a package of dengue-related measures, including an educational campaign for public transportation, schools and police stations.
Those efforts are meant to avoid an epidemic next year. The governor has expressed frustration at the lack of effort by city officials in preventing the disease. “But right now we are facing a crisis; we don’t have time to debate whose responsibility it is,” he told reporters late last month. “It’s useless to cry over spilled milk. There are people dying.”
By MERY GALANTERNICK
15 april 2008— Heavy rains over the past month have created a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying the dengue fever virus, deepening a crisis that has claimed at least 80 lives in Rio State.
The dengue strain ravaging this tropical city is now believed to be stronger and more lethal than the virus responsible for an epidemic in 2002, considered the worst in recent history in Brazil, according to Dr. Jacob Kligerman, health secretary for the city.
The spreading epidemic has shown no signs of slowing. Since January, 75,399 people have been infected in Rio State, health officials say. The mortality rate is now more than three times as high as it was during the epidemic in 2002, which claimed 91 lives.
There is no vaccine for dengue, also known as “bone break fever,” which is spread by bites from the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Dengue produces high fever, a rash, nausea, vomiting and severe headaches and joint and muscle pains. The treatment includes pain relievers, rest and fluids. The disease usually lasts about one week.
Children younger than 15, who have little immunity, are the most susceptible to being infected. At least 35 children have died from the disease in Rio State.
As the death toll has mounted, public officials have been slow to react, in part because no one could decide if the mosquito was a city, state or federal issue. In recent days physicians have been brought in from other states, and the federal government has sent in 1,700 members of the armed forces to help anti-disease efforts.
Last week, army and navy service members trained by health officials began a 30-day tour in Rio State, visiting 95,000 homes in an effort to identify breeding grounds for the mosquito and to teach residents how to help prevent the disease. The service members are also giving patients intravenous saline solution to avoid severe dehydration.
The latest outbreak was set off by heavy rains. The mosquito breeds in uncovered water tanks, pools of stagnant water and discarded tires that accumulate water. The shantytowns built along jungle hillsides here provide a fertile mosquito breeding ground.
The dengue outbreak is taking a toll on tourism. The embassies of several countries, including the United States, Portugal and Italy, issued alerts on their Web sites warning about the epidemic in Rio, the main gateway into Brazil for foreign tourists. Two Portuguese tourists were infected in Rio, Portuguese newspapers reported. Officials recommend that visitors wear trousers and long-sleeve shirts, and that they spray insect repellent on uncovered skin three times a day.
When two children died from dengue here last November, the local authorities determined that a second type of dengue virus was present and that it could cause more casualties among children than the 2002 epidemic. In its more severe form, dengue hemorrhagic fever, the illness causes internal bleeding and can eventually kill.
According to the health secretary of the city of Rio, 50 people who have died were infected with hemorrhagic dengue, half of them younger than 12. The toll in the city is more than half of the 91 deaths reported in 2002 for all of Rio State.
In Jacarepaguá, one of the most afflicted neighborhoods in the city, the air force put up 15 barracks with space to care for up to 400 patients a day. “There were many more people needing assistance than we could handle,” said Col. Henry Munhoz, a spokesman for the air force.
Last week, 4,000 former guides to the Pan American Games were called back to help fight the disease. The governor of Rio State, Sérgio Cabral, unveiled a package of dengue-related measures, including an educational campaign for public transportation, schools and police stations.
Those efforts are meant to avoid an epidemic next year. The governor has expressed frustration at the lack of effort by city officials in preventing the disease. “But right now we are facing a crisis; we don’t have time to debate whose responsibility it is,” he told reporters late last month. “It’s useless to cry over spilled milk. There are people dying.”
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