RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – At risk for the worst dengue outbreak ever in the fast-approaching South American summer, the city of Rio de Janeiro has declared a state of alert that will allow health workers to enter closed or abandoned buildings, reported terra.com.
aedes aegypti mosquito (photo: entm.purdue.edu)
The measures, taking effect tomorrow, were part of the Plan to Combat Dengue for Summer 2012. The goal is to eliminate breeding sites of the mosquitoes that transmit the disease, since, according to the Health Department, 82% of the breading grounds of Aedes aegypti are located in buildings. Data also show that in two thirds of dengue cases mosquito eggs were found in the patients.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, said risk of a major epidemic in 2012 is due to the return of type 1 and arrival of type 4—for which the city residents have no immunity. The mayor explained that because of the epidemics of 2002 and 2008, cariocas, as the city's residents are known locally, are more resistant to types 2 and 3.
”We have had two major (dengue) epidemics in the history of Rio, in 2002 and 2008, where we noted an increase in the number of cases in 2001 and 2007 showing a growth curve. We expect this pattern to repeat in 2011,” said Paes. “Everything points to a new cycle of the disease wider and higher, certainly this is the largest epidemic in the history of Rio and I don't want to scare anybody, but this is our belief,” he stressed. Paes also thanked the public and the media for help in combating the disease.
Read also: More Articles from Brazil Dispatch
Brazilian online news source for this article: terra.com.br
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