MEXICO CITY – The number of dengue fever cases in the Americas tripled in the first three months of this year compared to the number of infections reported in the same period last year, the head of the Pan American Health Organization said Thursday.
Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay are the countries hardest hit by dengue fever in what PAHO officials described as potentially the worst outbreak of the deadly mosquito-borne viral disease in the Americas to date.
“This will probably be the worst dengue season we’ll have,” said PAHO director Dr. Jarbas Barbosa da Silva at an online press conference.
PAHO, a United Nations agency, has confirmed more than 3.5 million dengue cases and more than 1,000 deaths this year through March across the Americas.
Barbosa da Silva said the region as a whole saw around 4.5 million reported cases for all of 2023, which he said meant the Americas were on track for the highest number of cases on record that year.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 4 billion people, or about half the world’s population, live in dengue risk areas.
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Barbosa da Silva stressed that the jump in the number of infections should prompt public health officials across the region to “redouble our efforts” to better address the epidemic through vector control and staff training to detect the most serious symptoms that patients show.
Symptoms of dengue fever include fever, headache, vomiting, skin rashes, as well as muscle and joint pain. In some cases, it can cause a more severe hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding that can lead to death.
Most dengue cases usually occur between February and May, which are the late summer months in the southern hemisphere.
