Dengue fever in Mali: Officials report recent increase
The Mali Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 52 dengue fever cases (11 confirmed, 41 suspected), and no deaths during the past week.
The most cases were reported in the Bamako and Kayes regions.
Health officials say this is a four-fold average increase compared to the past month.
Since the beginning of the year, Mali has reported 1918 total dengue cases (380 confirmed), and no deaths from all 11 regions in the country, the second most in Africa this year.
This outbreak in Mali, which started in September 9, 2023, has resulted in more than 17,000 total dengue cases and 74 deaths.
This year in Africa, nearly 8,000 cases and seven deaths from seven African countries.
Africa is believed to be endemic to all 4 serotypes of the dengue virus—DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4—although DENV-2 has reportedly caused the most recent epidemics on the continent. The presence of the vector (Aedes aegypti) has been reported in 47 of 55 African Union member states. Nevertheless, only 34 of the 47 countries with the presence of the vector have reported cases of dengue.
Dengue symptoms overlap with endemic febrile illnesses such as malaria, and as such, several cases are presumptively diagnosed as malaria. This misclassification underestimates the burden of dengue in these countries and is a cause for concern for future risk of antimalaria resistance.