Brazil: Rio de Janeiro reports record dengue hospitalizations, Vaccinations begin in Mato Grosso do Sul city
Rio de Janeiro
Officials in the city of Rio de Janeiro report a record day in dengue fever hospitalization with 362 people requiring hospital treatment for the mosquito-borne viral disease in a single day.
This information was released yesterday by the municipal secretary of Health, Daniel Soranz.
In January, the city reported some 10,000 dengue cases—in all of 2023, the city of Rio saw 22,959 cases.
Secretary Soranz admitted the city of Rio de Janeiro is experiencing a dengue epidemic.
Health authorities are concerned about the curve of cases, which historically is worst between March and May, already showed a steep slope in January, surpassing incidences of past epidemics.
“We will probably have a worse scenario in 2024”, projects the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes.
The Health Department attributes this behavior to the increase in temperature and large amounts of rain. “In the heat, the mosquito is born much more quickly, and the rainy season leads to the accumulation of water and more foci of mosquito development”, explains Soranz.
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Mass vaccination to begin in Dourados
In a follow-up on a previous post, the municipality of Dourados (population of approximately 225,000), in Mato Grosso do Sul, will be the first city in the country to offer mass vaccination against dengue today (February 3).
According to the Immunization Center of the Dourados Health Department, all basic health units in the urban area will offer the vaccine between 8am and 5pm.
The vaccine, Qdenga from Takeda Pharmaceuticals, will be available to the entire population aged between 4 and 59 years. The vaccination schedule consists of two doses with an interval of three months between them.
The expectation is to immunize around 150,000 people with the two doses provided for in the vaccination schedule.
In the 521 municipalities selected by the federal government to receive the dengue vaccine, vaccination should begin next week, when doses begin to be distributed.
More than 200,000 total dengue fever cases have been reported in the first weeks of 2024, officials note.