Brazil tops 1,500 dengue deaths in less than 4 months

In less than four months, Brazil has already surpassed 1,500 dengue deaths in 2024, the highest death toll from the disease since the disease began being recorded in the last decade. Data relating to the period from January 1 to last Thursday, April 18, was published this Friday, the 19th, by the Ministry of Health of this country.

Until Thursday, the organization had officially confirmed 1,544 deaths from complications caused by the most serious form of dengue across Brazil, but the number could be even higher, much higher. In addition to the already confirmed deaths, the Ministry of Health is investigating another 2,085 people with characteristics very similar to the others, who are awaiting laboratory tests that will be rejected or confirmed in a similar way.

Before these tragic figures were published, the deadliest years of the cyclical dengue epidemic were last year, 2023, and the year before that, 2022. For all of last year, from January to December, 1,094 people died from dengue in Brazil. for the entire year is much less than in less than four months of this year, and in 2022 the number of fatal victims was 1,053, also for a cumulative 12 months of the same year.

So far, according to data published by Lula da Silva’s government, which has been widely criticized for its ineffectiveness in combating the epidemic, which Health Minister Nicia Trindade continues to call “local regional outbreaks”, 3,507,062 people had been infected with the Dengue virus until last Thursday. The number is more than double the total number of people infected in 2023, and experts and organizations involved in public health prevention and response have condemned the lack of preparation and delay in dealing with the epidemic by health authorities, including the Ministry of Health itself. State and municipal health departments have contributed greatly to the increasing severity of dengue fever this year.