Some fifty Brazilian cities are exposed to serious outbreaks of dengue during the austral summer and another 236 are on ‘alert’ for the same reason, according to a paper presented Monday by Brazil’s Health minister Alexandre Padhilla.
By infecting mosquitoes with bacteria from flies that commonly live in kitchen fruit bowls, researchers have stopped the insects spreading the dengue virus.
Mercosur will consider next June adopting a regional joint program to combat the mosquito transmitted dengue disease, which has become endemic in the group with the exception of Uruguay, and which has forced landlocked Paraguay to declare a national emergency.
Paraguay’s Minister of Public Health Esperanza Martinez acknowledged on Tuesday that the current mosquito transmitted dengue epidemic is far more severe than that of 2007, considered the worst in recent times, and claimed she has had limited support from city councils
The dengue disease transmitted by the ”Aedes aegypti” mosquito is again on the attack in most South American countries with Paraguay reporting 18 deaths and Bolivia, 20 and thousands infected so far this year.
An outbreak of dengue fever across much of Latin America has killed 31 people since the start of the year and is showing no sign of relenting. Endemic in several countries there’s growing concern following the discovery of a very “aggressive” strain in Peru.
Latin American governments are increasing dengue prevention campaigns after more than 1.5 million people in the region were infected and over 1,000 died of dengue in the past year.
Paraguayan health authorities said that the number of dengue confirmed cases have reached 5.646, including a death toll of twelve, the latest of which a 60-year-old man and a 5-year-old boy. Most of the deaths reported are in areas near the border with Brazil.