MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

São Paulo: Public health emergency decreed due to dengue fever

So far 131 deaths have been recorded nationwide in 2025. Photo: EFE

The Brazilian State of São Paulo Wednesday declared a public emergency due to the persistence and worsening of the dengue epidemic, Health Secretary Eleuses Paiva announced from the Butantan Institute.

The main cause for the change of level is the recognition of the high incidence of the disease in the state - 300 cases per 100,000 inhabitants - affecting 225 municipalities. Sixty of these have already instituted municipal emergency decrees due to the disease. State figures confirm 124,000 cases of the disease this year, with 113 deaths, according to the state's Strategic Health Information Center (NIES). 233 deaths are still under investigation.

So far 131 deaths have been recorded nationwide in 2025. Last year, dengue caused the deaths of 6,216 people in Brazil, 2,174 of them in the state of São Paulo. Normally, the period of highest incidence of the disease occurs between April and June, as happened last year.

Butantan Director Ésper Kallas has been following the development of the single-dose vaccine against dengue since its early stages, at the University of São Paulo's (USP) School of Medicine. The immunizer is in the final stages of approval by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa). Plans or deadlines for mass production and availability have not yet been announced.

Both Kallas and Paiva sit on the Emergency Operations Center for Arboviruses (COE) where reinforcement measures were announced for the fight against Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that transmits dengue, and for patient care. A 20% increase is planned in what the Health Department calls the MAC (Medium and High Complexity) Ceiling, i.e. a higher payment to pay for the care of seriously ill patients in units of the Unified Health System (SUS). Further funding is also under consideration.

In addition, the State of São Paulo has also updated its yellow fever figures, which remain high among unvaccinated people in rural areas. There have been 15 cases and 9 deaths this year in the state.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)