MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian State bordering Paraguay and Argentine under dengue emergency

Local authorities will hold a rally on Saturday to boost awareness against the aedes aegypti mosquito

Authorities in the Brazilian State of Paraná bordering Argentina and Paraguay have decreed a health emergency given the increasing number of cases of dengue fever in recent weeks as new deaths have been confirmed, Agencia Brasil reported.

According to Parana's Health Secretariat, the measure will be in force for 90 to bolster the actions taken to control and combat the disease such as home visits by sanitary teams to identify and eliminate Aedes aegypti mosquito breeding sites.

“The declaration also makes it possible to speed up the allocation of state and federal government funds to municipalities, avoiding the usual procedures and facilitating, for example, the process of acquiring supplies and medicines,” said the secretariat.

The most recent epidemiological bulletin showed that, as of December 12, Paraná had registered 34,996 new dengue notifications, as well as 17,044 confirmed cases and 12 new deaths. The state has recorded a total of 222,590 notifications, with 90,972 confirmed cases and 49 deaths since August 2023.

Among the 399 municipalities in Paraná, 397 have already registered dengue notifications. Of these, 366 have confirmed cases - almost 92% of the state. The incidence of autochthonous detections (patients who have not traveled outside the State) reached 697 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and 26 municipalities have already declared a state of emergency.

Paraná is currently fourth in the ranking of states with the highest incidence of dengue, with 1,366 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, behind Espírito Santo (1,675 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), Minas Gerais (2,745 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) and the Federal District (5,007 cases per 100,000 inhabitants).

The authorities also said they planned a joint rally of State and City Hall teams to boost awareness actions against dengue.

In addition to Paraná, nine other Brazilian States have already declared a public health emergency: Acre, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio Grande do Sul, as well as many municipalities in Minas Gerais.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)