By Andrea Hargraves 
Today, Wednesday, the Porto Alegre municipality issued an epidemiological alert due to the high rate of infection of adult females from Aedes aegypti in the capital. According to the Health Surveillance Council (DVS), health professionals have been informed of the suspected arthropod-borne viruses – dengue, Zika, chikungunya – in the care of patients with symptoms compatible with the diseases.
According to the DVS, symptoms include fever for a maximum of seven days, accompanied by at least two of the following: red spots on the body, headache, muscle or joint pain, pain behind the eye, nausea, vomiting, eye redness or lack of white blood cells ( detected in a blood test).
According to a bulletin issued by the Ministry of Health, the regions of Brazil with the highest incidence of dengue are currently the Midwest (with more cases occurring in Goiás, Mato Grosso and the Federal District); Northeast (Pernambuco and Ceará with higher rates); It is followed by the Southern Region, which ranks third in terms of incidence of cases, with Paraná and Santa Catarina being the states with the highest rates.
According to DVS, in Rio Grande do Sul, more than ten thousand cases of dengue were confirmed in 2021, most of them in the Santa Cruz do Sul and Ericeme regions, respectively. In Porto Alegre, as of December 25, 169 suspected cases of dengue have been reported among the residents of the capital, of which 83 have been confirmed (65 original – contracted in the city). Regarding chikungunya, one imported case was confirmed in 2021, and no case of Zika virus has been confirmed.
As for chikungunya and Zika, the places with the highest infection rate are northeastern and western central Brazil. In the state, the municipality of São Nicolao has recorded the majority of cases of chikungunya and Santa Maria and Santiago with Zika virus.