Dengue cases soar in Brazil, as death toll climbs

Cases of dengue have soared in Brazil where the disease has caused 229 fatalities this year, the Health Ministry said Monday, as authorities try to combat its spread using transgenic mosquitos.

05 may 2015--The health ministry said it had logged 745,900 cases nationwide in the first 15 weeks of the year—an annual increase of 234 percent.

That equates to 367.8 people infected per 100,000 residents, which falls into the category of an epidemic under parameters used by the World Health Organization.

The number of dengue deaths has climbed 44 percent from the same period last year, and most of the diagnosed cases have occurred in business hub Sao Paulo.

In all, Sao Paulo has seen 169 fatalities and 401,564 cases this year—a high since records began in 1990.

Cases of the mosquito-borne infectious tropical disease increased in the wake of a serious drought last year, the worst in living memory.

Severe water shortages led residents to store what they could in open receptacles, which facilitated the spread of dengue.

Last Thursday the city of Piracicaba, located 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Sao Paulo, released its first batch of 100,000 transgenic male mosquitos in reaction to the growing crisis.

The genetically modified mosquitos pass on a modified gene during procreation that makes offspring incapable of reaching sexual maturity, causing the overall population to decline steadily.

Piracicaba authorities and British firm Oxitec last year opened a facility at Campinas, near Sao Paulo, able to produce 550,000 modified mosquitoes weekly.

Dengue symptoms include severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting and circulatory system failure.

With handy app, Brazilians hope to fight dengue

Aberdal Varela Da Fe, a Natal municipality agent, tests areas infestd with mosquitoes to prevent dengue fever spreading on June 14, 2014

While World Cup referees finally have goal-line technology to prevent mistakes, doctors in Brazil will soon have their own computer gizmo to contain dengue outbreaks.

17jun 2014--In the tropical northeastern city of Natal, a new smartphone application could allow residents to alert authorities about the location of concentrations of mosquitos and cases of dengue with the touch of a finger.

The app was developed by university researcher Ricardo Valentim in collaboration with epidemiologist Ion de Andrade, who works for the Natal city council.

"If someone identifies dengue, they pinpoint it on the (application's) map and that allows us to see where it is developing and to react immediately to stop it spreading," Andrade said.

The "Dengue Observatory" app is in beta mode for now but is expected to come online this month. Once up and running, it will allow authorities to know exactly where to act.

"If it's mosquitos, we can locate and treat the water source. If a suspected case is confirmed, we can treat the victim," Andrade said.

There is no cure for the mosquito-borne disease.

Brazil has been hit harder than any other country this century, with seven million cases reported since 2000, including 800 fatalities in the last five years.

In the Sao Paulo state city of Campinas, where Portugal's team and star Cristiano Ronaldo are based, three women aged 27, 69 and 81 died of dengue this year.

World Cup plan

Doctors will soon have an app to aid battle against dengue fever, pictured are city workers searching for mosquito clusters near Rio de Janeiro on April 2, 2008

The World Cup's northeastern host cities of Natal, Recife and Fortaleza were flagged as danger zones in a paper published by European and Brazilian scientists in The Lancet Infectious Diseases last month.

Natal has recorded 3,000 cases this year, and the city has endured torrential rain since the World Cup started last Thursday.

Sitting at the local hospital, Joana was waiting to undergo a blood analysis.

"I have a sore head, my joints are sore and I'm feverish. On Sunday, I had pain in my eyes," she complained.

Although all are symptoms of dengue, she may be suffering from a simple virus.

"We've seen several cases of dengue recently, but we're nowhere near epidemic levels," said local doctor Mario Toscano.

The poorer neighborhoods of Natal often do not have ready access to running water, never mind computers or telephones with mobile applications.

So in some of the city's favelas, where the children run barefoot and waste water runs in open gutters, the risk of dengue is potentially greater.

"This is exactly the kind of place that would attract mosquitos," said Aberdal Varela Da Fe, pointing at a concrete bath of stagnant water used by several families for cooking and washing in their tiny, one-room concrete shacks.

In stagnant water, female mosquitos can lay eggs which grow into the larvae which can then become disease-carrying mosquitoes.

After visiting another house nearby, Varela Da Fe, one of 380 health inspectors employed by the city to control dengue, received better news.

"Your house is very well kept," he told the elderly occupant Iivanilda Firmino. "All the water receptacles are covered."

Firmino has reason to be very vigilant. "I'm really careful, because my son has had dengue four times already," said Firmino.

With hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors travelling across Brazil until the World Cup final on July 13, authorities are being careful.

"There's always a risk, but this year it's not so big," said Alessandre de Medeiros Tavares, the chief doctor in Natal city council's dengue task force.

"Thanks to our work on the ground, we've had less cases. But if we do have more, we have a 'World Cup' plan ready to go into action," he said.

"But according to our analyses, it is likely we won't have to."

Dengue claims 54 lives in Brazil

By MICHAEL ASTOR
A dengue epidemic has claimed at least 54 lives in Rio de Janeiro state since January, health officials said Thursday.
Hospitals have reported a total of 114 deaths from the mosquito-borne disease, but 60 of those cases are still being investigated.
Brazilian Health Care Secretary Jose Noronha said that 1,200 soldiers from the army, air force and navy would be deployed next week to set up three field hospitals, while an additional 500 would spray insecticide and place poison in standing puddles of water where the mosquitoes breed.
"The intensity of the epidemic has brought intolerable death tolls," Noronha told reporters after a meeting with armed forces commanders.
The majority of the confirmed deaths, 31, have been in the city of Rio de Janeiro — Brazil's biggest resort city. Rio has seen a 25 percent drop in tourism as a result, the Brazilian Hotel Association said.
About half of the victims were children under the age of 13.
More than 43,000 people have contracted disease since January in Rio de Janeiro state — nearly double the 25,107 cases reported in all of 2007. The state is home to 16 million people.
State health official Victor Berbara said the outbreak highlights the importance of fighting the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito all year — not just between November and May when most infections occur.
"If nothing is done ... next year is going to be much worse," he told reporters.
Earlier this week, federal officials sent hundreds of health workers to Rio de Janeiro state to help care for victims in the state's overcrowded emergency rooms, and set up special tents with extra hospital beds in the city.
On Wednesday, Rio de Janeiro state Gov. Sergio Cabral ordered health officials to break into homes suspected of containing standing bodies of water if the owners could not be found.
Dengue, which has no vaccine, can incapacitate patients for over a week with severe headaches and joint pains, but is not usually fatal.