Dengue fever: More than 5 million cases reported globally, More than any year over the past five years: Save the Children

More than 5,500 deaths recorded

Save the Children reported this week that more dengue fever cases have been recorded so far in 2023 than in the last five years annually.

Photo by Alyssia Wilson on Unsplash

They identified countries that had reported at least 20 dengue deaths in 2023 as of 23 November and looked at the trends of deaths in these countries using data from governments, the World Health Organization and other international bodies.  This analysis found at least 5,562 people had died of dengue during this period and 5,046,627 cases had been recorded.

This makes a 30 percent increase in cases compared to 2022 and a 32 percent increase in deaths.

Tropical diseases

The 20 countries with the most reported deaths between January and November 2023, listed from highest to lowest, were: Bangladesh, Brazil, Philippines, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Peru, Thailand, India, Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Colombia, Malaysia, Argentina, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ecuador and Nepal.

A look at some of the hardest affected countries are below:

Bangladesh

Bangladesh has reported a country record of 313,706 total dengue fever cases through December 3, including a global high for 2023 in deaths with 1,632.

Brazil

In Brazil through November 4, 2,909,404 total dengue cases, including 1,331,036 laboratory confirmed cases. 1,011 deaths have been recorded to date.

Philippines

As of 28 October 2023, a total of 167,355 dengue cases have been reported, including 575 deaths.

Burkina Faso

Cumulatively, Burkina Faso has recorded 176,841 total cases, including 17,125 confirmed, 49,808 probable and 109,908 suspected. 511 deaths have been reported.

Save the Children states this year’s El Niño event coupled with the climate crisis is understood to have exacerbated the dengue fever outbreak. Although El Niño events are natural and cyclical, its impacts are aggravated by the climate crisis, with storms and floods increasing mosquito populations as they provide them with shallow, stagnant pools where they can reproduce. Dengue can also, however, increase in drought situations as the mosquitoes that transmit the disease are able to survive when water is scarce.

An estimated 1.3 billion children - more than one in two - live in countries or regions within countries that the US Centre for Disease Control says face a frequent or continuous risk of the disease.

Dengue fever is a viral infection contracted via mosquito bites and can cause flu-like symptoms, including high fevers, pain behind the eyes, rash, severe headaches and body aches. In the most serious cases it can progress to dengue hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome, which can be fatal.