Dengue News Today: Italy and France top 100 local cases, Sri Lanka, Mexico and more

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) released their Ten threats to global health in 2019 and dengue fever was one of them.

An estimated 40% of the world is at risk of dengue fever, and there are around 390 million infections a year.

Here are some of the latest on global dengue in 2023 to date:

Italy and France

Between Italy and France (and one case in Spain), more than 100 locally-transmitted dengue infections have been reported in Europe.

Image/Robert Herriman

In Italy, 66 local cases have been confirmed as of 23 October 2023. These cases refer to four unconnected transmission episodes in the province of Lodi (36 confirmed cases), in the province of Latina (2 cases) and in the province of Rome (27 cases with exposures in different parts of the metropolitan city of Rome and 1 case in Anzio, for which investigations are underway to verify any epidemiological links).

Since the beginning of the year, 222 cases of Dengue imported from other countries have also been reported.

In mainland France, 36 indigenous cases of dengue fever were recorded between May 1 and October 20, 2023. According to Santé Publique France, these cases were recorded in Paca, Occitanie and particularly in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes.

According to the Public Health France report published this Tuesday, October 24, more than 1,374 cases of dengue fever were detected between May 1 and October 20, 2023 in France. The organization specifies that the indigenous cases were recorded in the Provence-Alpes-Côte D’Azur region in 14 individuals. In Occitanie, dengue affected 19 people and in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, there were two cases. In Île-de-France, only one case of dengue fever has been identified. We can therefore easily assume that the warmer climates of the southern regions favor the spread of the tiger mosquito.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), most patients have no symptoms, but the most common symptoms involve high fevers, body aches and nausea.

Sri Lanka

Health officials in Sri Lanka report dengue fever is on the rise again. Since the beginning of the year, 66,500 cases were reported in the country, while 39 people have died due to Dengue.

Director of the National Dengue Control Unit Dr. Nalin Ariyaratne said that majority of the cases were reported from Kandy, Colombo, Nugegoda, Gothatuwa, Gampaha and Attanagalla.

Mexico

According to a recent health ministry report, confirmed dengue cases are up 337 percent in 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. 71% of all infections were detected in just five states.

There were 30,320 confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne disease between Jan. 1 and Oct. 7 this year after 6,942 were recorded in the same period of 2022.

48 deaths have been recorded.

Data shows that Yucatán has recorded the highest number of confirmed dengue cases among Mexico’s 32 federal entities in 2023 with 7,523. That figure represents a huge 4,915% increase compared to the January-October period of last year when just 150 cases were recorded in the state.

Veracruz ranks second with 6,402 confirmed cases, followed by Quintana Roo, 3,369; Morelos, 2,300; and Puebla, 2,082.

According to officials, dengue serotype 3 (DENV-3) – one of four dengue serotypes – is currently present across the majority of Mexico.

That serotype has not previously been prevalent in Mexico and therefore many people are susceptible to becoming sick with dengue if they are bitten by a female Aedes genus mosquito carrying it.

In addition, Mexico has recorded increased rainfall this year.

Image/Mexico MOH

Honduras

Honduras has recorded 11 deaths from dengue so far this year and 18,532 people have been infected with the mosquito-borne disease, which continues to spread throughout the country.

Of the 18,532 infected cases, 18,497 are classic dengue or without warning signs, and 147 are of the severe or hemorrhagic variety, to which are added eleven deaths confirmed through laboratory results, according to a report from the Ministry of Health.

The Central District, which makes up the cities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, is the region that registers the most cases of dengue patients, with 5,636, followed by Comayagua, the central region, with 3,904.

Florida

Ten additional locally acquired dengue cases were reported in Miami-Dade County by the Florida Department of Health last week.

This brings the total dengue local transmission cases to 78 year to date—Broward (4), Hardee, Miami-Dade (71), Palm Beach, and Polk counties.