From August 2021 to date, Paraná has recorded more than 80,000 notifications of dengue and five deaths from the disease. With the increase in cases, the Secretary of State for Health declared a situation of epidemic of the disease from this Tuesday. “We have entered a dengue epidemic. In each weekly bulletin the numbers pointed to this outcome. Despite our constant monitoring by the Environmental Surveillance, the numbers have increased and now we need to reverse the situation. We have had deaths and we don’t want the cases to increase. We have already had an effective work to combat the disease in the recent past, with the support of society, and we summon the population again to this confrontation”, warned the Secretary of State for Health, César Neves.

The numbers of the weekly dengue bulletin, released today, reveal that probable and confirmed cases are above expectations for the epidemiological period, hence the configuration of an epidemic scenario. There are 80,004 reported cases, 14,964 more than the previous week. The data are from the 34 th Epidemiological Report, of the new seasonal period of the disease, which started on August 1st and should continue until July 2022. The bulletin also informs that 365 municipalities have reported cases, of which 287 had confirmed cases. In one week, there was a 39.86% increase in confirmed cases, from 16,560 to 23,161. There were no deaths this week.

The West and North Macro-regions concentrate the highest number of confirmed cases. Francisco Beltrão, Medianeira, Arapongas, Cascavel, Salto do Lontra, Ampére, Catanduvas, Iracema do Oeste and Realeza were the municipalities with the highest number of confirmed cases in the last six weeks.

Between 2019 and 2020, Paraná faced one of the worst dengue epidemics in its history, since it began to be monitored in 1991. During this period, 227,724 confirmed cases of the disease were recorded, with 177 deaths.

Until then, the worst period had been between 2015 and 2016, with just over 56,000 cases and 61 deaths.

“Our teams are already in the field in the regions where the highest number of cases prevail, guiding the population. We are promoting tutorials for doctors for this confrontation so that there is an assertive diagnosis”, added the secretary.

“We need to revive the methods of combating dengue. That vase of water, of rubble, in the water collection cistern, rubbish should be avoided, because the mosquito breeder can be there”, he concluded.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits dengue, is also the cause of other diseases called arboviruses, such as zika and chikungunya. According to the weekly newsletter, there have been 210 notifications of chikungunya, with 12 cases confirmed.

Internet: <http://outbreaknewstoday.com> (adapted).