Dengue: The emergence of serotype 3 cases worries specialists

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Recently, dengue virus serotype 3 (DENV-3) has re-emerged after more than 15 years without causing epidemics in Brazil, prompting the Ministry of Health to raise the alert for the risk of an epidemic of the disease it causes. by this viral serotype.

A study by Fiocruz, coordinated by Fiocruz Amazônia and the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC / Fiocruz), presents the genetic characterization of viruses referring to four cases of infection recorded this year, in Roraima and Paraná. Experts worry about the spread of the long-lost serotype.

Of the 4 cases analyzed, 3 refer to patients who were infected in the state of Roraima and had no travel history. In Paraná, the diagnosis came from a person from Suriname (a country in South America).

During the launch of the national campaign to combat viruses transmitted by arthropods, Alda Cruz, Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Secretariat of Health and Environmental Control of the Ministry of Health (SVSA / MS), explained that Aedes Aegypti has the characteristic of being a mosquito with great adaptation to urban scenarios, which creates great difficulty in combating This carrier.

With regard to the determining factors, they are multiple. It warns of climate variability, demographic and socio-economic factors, the mobility of people and also the biological characteristics and ecology of both vectors and hosts.”

Types of dengue

Dengue has 4 different serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4). Infection with one serotype confers immunity to that specific type but does not prevent re-infection with a different serotype. According to Fiocruz, the concern about a re-emergence of serotype 3 is due to the population’s reduced immunity, to which few have been exposed since the initial outbreaks occurred in the 2000s.

According to the Ministry of Health, in 2023, until the end of April, there was a 30% increase in the number of probable cases of dengue compared to the same period in 2022, throughout Brazil. Infection cases rose from 690,800 last year to 899,500 this year, with 333 confirmed deaths.

Alda Cruz presented one of the measures taken by the Ministry of Health to confront the epidemic of these viruses, which is the establishment of the Health Emergency Operations Center (Coe Arboviruses). According to her, she has 50 days of activation. This operations center is activated when there are case records above the expected curve for that period.

“This Coe installation is very important, because it allows the work to be coordinated not only by our General Secretariat, but also with other secretariats of the Ministry and other instances, such as Conas, Conasems, Anvisa and Fiocruz, among others, which meet daily so that we can discuss scenarios and guide the decision-making process,” he explains.

According to the volume, in 2023 more than R$84 million will be invested in the procurement of four types of accessions for Aedes vector control. Popularly known as smoke. The Ministry of Health is expected to receive about 275,000 liters of the product in May, which will lead to the normalization of shipments to the states and the Federal District.

symptoms

The most common symptoms of dengue are: Sarah Oliveira, research associate at InfoDengue.

• a high fever above 38.6 ° C;
• severe muscle pain
• Pain when moving the eyes.
• headache;
• lack of appetite
• general malaise
• Red spots on the body.

protection

• Do not store tires in exposed areas
• Do not accumulate water on baseboards or gutters
• Putting sand in plant pots
• Cover barrels and water tanks well

Every place with standing water, where the vector mosquito lays its eggs, should be eliminated.

See more:

The strategy to combat dengue, Zika virus and chikungunya focuses on the country’s regional differences, according to the Ministry of Health

Dengue: Brazil records increase in probable cases; MS campaign alerts for signs and symptoms of sexually transmitted viruses