The Ministry of Health is working on a scenario of a possible slowdown in dengue cases in some regions of the country, especially where the epidemic began first, such as the state of Minas Gerais and the Federal District. According to the Minister of Health and Environmental Monitoring, Ethel Maciel, the two federal units have recorded a decline in cases in the past two weeks, but the ministry is carefully monitoring the curves. “Next week, this will become clearer,” the minister said.
Ethel highlighted, on the other hand, that states where dengue cases began to appear a little later, such as São Paulo, Santa Catarina and Paraná, show an acceleration in the discovery of new infections. The Ministry expects that these sites will follow the movement recorded in the state of Minas Gerais and the Federal District, where the case curve has risen very quickly and appears to be declining at the same pace.
“These are scenarios. We need at least another week to understand.”
To date, at least eight states have declared a public health emergency due to dengue outbreaks: Acre, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, and Minas Gerais. There are also 288 municipal decrees, most of them in the state of Minas Gerais.
Data
According to the Arbovirus Surveillance Committee, Brazil has recorded 1,585,385 cases of dengue fever since January 1. There are still 450 confirmed deaths due to the disease and 849 under investigation. The incidence of dengue fever in the country is 780 cases per group of 100,000 people. The majority of cases are concentrated in the age group between 20 and 29 years and between 30 and 39 years. Women represent 55.5% of cases and men 44.5%.
Minas Gerais leads the absolute number of probable cases (531,418) among the states. Followed by São Paulo (292,386), Paraná (152,648) and the Federal District (138,543). When considering the incidence coefficient, the Federal District appears in first place, with 4,918 cases per group of 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Minas Gerais (2,587), Espírito Santo (1,564) and Paraná (1,334).
