Brazil Completes 30 Years of Successive Dengue Epidemics in 2016

02/01/2016 - 11h05

This year, Brazil completes 30 years of successive Dengue epidemics. Since 1986, the number of municipalities with cases of the illness jumped from 258 to 4,265 -70% of the total.

Last year, the country experienced the largest of the epidemics, with 1.6 million cases and 863 deaths. Apart from Dengue, the Aedes aegypti mosquito also caused spikes in Zika and Chikungunya. The Zika virus is linked to cases of brain damage and microcephaly.

For experts, the main issue in this public health emergency is the lack of basic sanitation. "The Aedes is the synthesis of Brazilian social misery", says former Minister of Health José Gomes Temporão.

Only 58 percent of Brazilian households have sewage collection -85% have water supply, but there is no data on how many suffer from shortages.

According to André Monteiro, public health engineer and researcher for Fiocruz (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation), antidengue initiatives have always focused on how to combat the mosquito and not on the social and environmental conditions.

Another mistake identified by the experts is the model for combatting the mosquito, which is focused on using larvicide and insecticides. Studies show that the Aedes is becoming increasingly resistant to these chemical products -the government says it monitors the resistance process of the mosquito.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said that there are actions underway to address the uncontrollable proliferation of the Aedes aegypti and Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya epidemics and that in 2013, the government approved a plan that set goals to universalize treated water and basic sanitation services in Brazil.

Translated by SUGHEY RAMIREZ

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