Number of New Dengue Cases in São Paulo Falls for First Time in Five Months

03/15/2016 - 10h13

For the first time since September last year, the number of new dengue cases in the state of São Paulo has fallen. Compared to January, the number of new cases recorded in February fell by 38.5%, from 57,400 to 35,300.

The causes for the reversal in the upward trend of the epidemic remain unclear, but this is still welcome news for health authorities in the state.

According to dengue specialists, the reduction could be a result of failures in the registration of new cases (unlikely, as rigid protocols have been established in order to control the disease) or a consequence of the intensification of the public health campaigns against the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

Another possibility is that there are simply fewer potential dengue victims, especially in small and medium-sized cities that were badly hit by the disease in 2015.

This is because an individual may only acquire one of the four dengue serotypes in a lifetime. According to the State Department of Health, by far the most prevalent dengue subtype in this epidemic is type 1, responsible for 98% of cases last year.

In the report published, which still needs to be updated, the most dramatic reductions in dengue cases have indeed occurred in small and medium-sized cities with up to 150,000 inhabitants. In these cities it is easier to control the vectors and most of the population was infected last year.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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	Nelson Almeida/AFP
	Soldiers and a Health Ministry agent look for larvae of Aedes aegypti mosquito, vector of the Zika, Dengue ans Chikungunya viruses, during an operation to fight them in Sao Paulo