The number of dengue cases in the region is the highest level since officials began tracking it in 1980.
The Caribbean and the Americas are being hit hard by dengue fever, with a record 12.6 million suspected cases of the mosquito-borne virus reported this year, according to regional health officials.
That’s nearly triple the number of cases reported in 2023, with cases surging globally as warmer weather brought on by climate change enables mosquitoes to expand their reach.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) – the regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Americas – said deaths from dengue are also rising.
The Caribbean and the Americas have reported more than 7,700 deaths so far in 2024, up from 2,467 deaths in 2023, according to the organisation.
The number of cases in the region, which includes the United States, is the highest reported since record keeping began in 1980, PAHO director Jarbas Barbosa said at a news conference.
“This is linked directly to climatic events,” he said, referencing warmer temperatures, droughts and flooding.
Amid fast population growth, unplanned urbanisation and poor sanitation have contributed to the rise in dengue.
The virus has surged worldwide since last year and spread to areas previously free of dengue, according to PAHO.
Where dengue is a threat
Brazil is reporting the highest number of dengue cases with more than 10 million, followed by Argentina, with more than 580,000, and Mexico with more than half a million.
In the Caribbean, Guyana is leading with more than 41,000 cases, followed by French Guiana, the Dominican Republic, and Martinique.
Meanwhile, in the US, dengue transmission has been reported in the states of California, Florida, and Texas this year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
There are four types of dengue virus, simply known as one, two, three, and four. Having one type of virus doesn’t provide immunity from others.
For the first time in a decade, dengue serotype three has predominated in Mexico, Central America and parts of the Caribbean in the second half of the year, according to Thais dos Santos, PAHO’s advisor on arboviral diseases.
Many infected people don’t get sick, but some experience headaches, fever, and flu-like symptoms. Severe cases can cause serious bleeding, shock, and death, and repeated infections can be especially dangerous.
Dengue cases usually surge during the wet season, but by late March, Puerto Rico already had declared an epidemic, with officials warning last month that it cannot be controlled unless residents cooperate.
The US territory has reported more than 4,900 cases and at least nine deaths so far this year, with cases nearly quadrupling from last year, according to government data.
Mosquito control efforts
Lydia Platón, a 55-year-old English professor at the University of Puerto Rico, got dengue in October.
“You have fever all the time. You have horrible chills,” she said. “I don’t feel that my energy has returned yet”.
Platón’s neighbourhood reported five cases in six weeks, which she blames on heavy rains at the time and stagnant and accumulated water.
Puerto Rican officials are urging people to get rid of stagnant water where mosquitoes lay eggs, while the government in Trinidad and Tobago has started issuing fines to people whose properties have become breeding sites for mosquitoes.
This year, more than one-third of cases in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Paraguay have been reported in children younger than 15, with Guatemala reporting a high number of child deaths, Barbosa said.
Vaccines against dengue have been introduced in Peru, Brazil, and Argentina, with Honduras slated to receive them next year, but they are meant mostly for children and are most effective in those already infected with dengue once, dos Santos said.
She noted that supplies are limited and that vaccines are not expected to have a big impact on transmission. She stressed that preventive measures remain crucial.
“If there’s no mosquito, there’s no dengue,” she said.
