MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Dengue kills 4,250 Brazilians in first semester of 2024

Most dengue cases in Argentina were recorded among native peoples while just the opposite happened in Brazil

The first semester of 2024 ended in Brazil with 6.1 million probable dengue cases and 4,250 deaths with other 2,730 fatalities still under investigation, Agencia Brasil reported Monday citing the federal Health Ministry's arbovirus monitoring panel. The malady's incidence rate is now 3,033 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and the lethality rate is 0.07.

Monday's figures also showed that the majority of probable dengue cases in 2024 were among women (54.8%) while 49.6% of cases were among white people, 42.5% among brown people, 6.2% among black people, and 0.3% among indigenous people.

The 20-29 age group accounts for the majority of victims, followed by the 30-39 age group and the 40-49 age group.

The Federal District (Brasilia) had the highest dengue incidence rate (9,626 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), followed by Minas Gerais (8,035), Paraná (5,478), Santa Catarina (4,607) and São Paulo (4,301).

In absolute numbers, São Paulo topped the list with 1.9 million occurrences, followed by Minas Gerais (1.6 million), Paraná (626.8 thousand), Santa Catarina (350.6 thousand) and Goiás (301.5 thousand).

Meanwhile, Argentina's latest Epidemiological Bulletin also released Monday showed a decline in the number of infections with cases amounting to over 530,000, including 370 deaths

”In accumulated terms, from week 31 of 2023 -end of July and beginning of August- to week 25 of 2024 -mid-June- 530,370 cases of dengue have been reported (95% Indigenous, 3% under investigation, and 2% imported), of which 513,205 (97%) correspond to the year 2024” the document read.