Rio declares dengue emergency as Brazil gears up for carnival

CNN
 — 

The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, has declared a state of public health emergency due to a dengue epidemic, according to CNN affiliate CNN Brasil.

The surge in dengue cases comes as Rio and the rest of the country gear up for carnival celebrations where millions of people pour onto the streets for parades and block parties.

Carnival and official holidays start Friday and go through next Wednesday.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne virus that is spread mainly via the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also known to carry several other viruses such as yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Worldwide, up to 400 million people are infected with dengue each year, the CDC says, making it the most common virus transmitted by mosquitoes.

The state of emergency was declared Monday, according to CNN Brasil.

In January alone, Rio’s city health network had 362 people hospitalized due to dengue, a record number, topping the previous high from 2008, CNN Brasil reported.

According to data from the Rio de Janeiro City Council’s Epidemiological Observatory panel, 11,202 cases have already been registered in 2024. Throughout 2023, there were a total of 22,959 cases.

Last Friday, Rio’s Municipal Health Secretary Daniel Soranz said Rio was facing an epidemic of the disease and that, “In a single month of 2024 we already have almost half the cases of the entire previous year, which generated intense concern.”

Ten centers are planned to be created across the city to combat the disease.

The Municipal Health Department is planning to vaccinate children as soon as the vaccines are released by the Ministry of Health, CNN Brasil reported.

The expectation is that within a week, the entire population will be vaccinated. That represents 354,000 children.

Only a quarter of people infected with dengue will have symptoms.

The most common symptom is fever. It can also cause nausea, vomiting, rash or aches and pains – typically behind the eyes or muscle, joint or bone pain.

There’s no specific medicine to treat dengue, the CDC says, but taking acetaminophen can ease the pain and fever.

This is a developing story and will be updated