By: Staff Writer
April 9, 2024
Dengue fever is sweeping Central America in what is being reported as a record-breaking year for the disease, places worse hit are Guatemala and Panama.
At least 20 people have died, and more than 30,000 have been infected by a wave of dengue in Central America, where Guatemala and Panama have the highest death toll this year.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned last week that Latin America and the Caribbean will experience their “worst dengue season,” accumulating 3.5 million cases and more than 1,000 deaths this year.
The most affected in the Central American region is Guatemala, with nine deaths and about 10,200 cases, including 38 severe cases, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Last year, 118 people died in Guatemala, and 72,000 were infected by this disease transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
“Probably this will be the worst dengue season [in the region],” said Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization.
The 3.5 million cases recorded so far are three times more than the number of infections at this point in 2023, a record year that saw 4.5 million cases, Barbosa said.
Dengue, which can cause hemorrhagic fever, is common in hotter countries and occurs mainly in urban and semi-urban areas.
Dengue outbreaks, which, in the Americas, tend to occur every three to five years, now appear to be expanding their geographic reach as temperatures climb. The Aedes aegypti mosquito has typically had difficulty surviving and reproducing during the winter in temperate climates. But in parts of Brazil, which is experiencing a dengue emergency, the thermometer no longer dips as low in the winter as it once did, allowing the bugs to reproduce year-round. Overall, Latin America and the Caribbean have had three times the number of cases this year as reported for the same period in 2023, which was a record year. Higher temperatures are also helping the virus develop faster inside the mosquito, leading to a higher viral load and a higher probability of transmission. And mosquitoes are benefiting from standing water from rains and floods that are growing more extreme in a warming world.