Highlights: South America faces its worst dengue outbreak. More than 3.5 million cases have been recorded since the start of the year. Majority of cases are concentrated in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Explosion in the number of cases is linked to the proliferation of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, favored by global warming and the El Niño weather phenomenon. A new serum would not be sufficient to stop the epidemic in the short term, the Pan American Health Organization has stressed. The WHO has called on all countries on the continent to launch awareness campaigns to eliminate stagnant waters where these mosquitoes breed.

South America faces its worst dengue outbreak

Latin America and the Caribbean are in the grip of the worst dengue epidemic on record. According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), more than 3.5 million cases have been recorded since the start of the year, three times more than at the same time in 2023, which had already been a record year . And the majority of cases are concentrated in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.

According to the Pan American Health Organization, more than 3.5 million cases have been recorded since the start of 2024. Getty Images - melianus usmany

By: RFI Follow

With our correspondent in Buenos Aires,

Théo Conscience

With the notable exception of Chile, which recorded only one case, the countries of the southern cone of Latin America account for 92% of dengue cases on the continent. The situation is particularly critical in Brazil, where nearly 3 million people have been infected and more than 750 deaths have been recorded since the start of the year.

A state of health emergency has been declared

in several states, including Sao Paulo and Rio.

With more than 150,000 infections and 100 deaths, Argentina is also experiencing the worst dengue epidemic in its history, just like Paraguay and Uruguay. This explosion in the number of cases is linked to the proliferation of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, favored by global warming and the El Niño weather phenomenon. Dengue is a viral disease that causes high fever with, in rare cases, progressing to a more serious form causing bleeding. Deaths are very rare – around 0.01% of all cases. A vaccine currently insufficient in the short term

As it expects the "

worst dengue season on record in America

", the Pan American Health Organization has called on all countries on the continent to launch awareness campaigns to eliminate stagnant waters where these mosquitoes breed .

If Argentina and especially Brazil have started to administer the vaccine from the Japanese laboratory Takeda, the Pan American Health Organization has stressed that this new serum would not be sufficient to stop the epidemic in the short term.

Also listenEnvironmental issues – Billions of mosquitoes soon released into the skies of Brazil

South America faces its worst dengue outbreak

South America faces its worst dengue outbreak

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