United States: Dengue fever rates in Latin America are higher than ever, marking one of the worst years for the disease. The numbers of cases in the first 4 ½ months of 2024 are, already 238 percent higher than they were in the last year, which which itself ended with a record 4.1 million cases, as per the Pan American Health Organization revealed.
Cases are more than 400 percent higher than the five-year than it was in the last five years.
More about the news
Mosquitoes that transmit dengue multiply in warmer temperatures, and with help from El Niño influencing more intensive and longer rainy seasons, especially in the tropical regions, mosquitoes are hatching with more viruses in them.
According to experts, global warming and deforestation are on the way to providing the mosquito with favorable abiotic conditions, and more importantly, they are on the way to providing a long list of diseases that can be transmitted through the bite of a mosquito.
Dr. Albert Ko, a professor of epidemiology of microbial diseases at the Yale School of Public Health, said, “That’s concerning for places where dengue hasn’t occurred before in recent history: North America and Europe,” as NBC News reported.
More about Dengue
The disease described as dengue fever is an infectious viral sickness and develops from four types of viruses present in mosquitoes. That vegetation is prevalent in the tropics but is increasingly occurring in colder climates.
The species Aedes aegypti is responsible for transmitting dengue fever and it is known to be present routinely in the southern regions of the United States, but more recently, it has been sighted in the Bay Area and Washington D. C. One study conducted in 2019 estimated that another two billion people will be at risk of getting dengue fever by 2080.
According to Ko, “We are definitely worried,” NBC News reported.
Reasons for rising Dengue cases
Historically, the dengue outbreaks are occured in the Americas every three to four years, as per Dr. Gabriela Paz-Bailey, dengue branch chief in the division of vector-borne diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
She said, “But now we are seeing them every year.”
The reasons cited are linked to climate change. The warmed-up climate makes the mosquitoes’ habitat more conducive, allowing them to breed all year long. On the other hand, they normally breed only during the warmer months of the year.
Moreover, hotter temperatures lead the viruses to grow faster, thereby more chances for humans to get bitten and be infected by one.
Ko added, “We are also seeing dengue cause outbreaks at times when they usually don’t occur,” as NBC reported.
Not long ago, the epidemic is spread to southern part of Brazil and northern Argentina, where otherwise dengue was not a major issue ever, as Ko explained.
Ko said, “That gives us a snapshot of what we may see here in North America in the coming decades.”