The Ministry of Health raises the case of dengue fever in Porto Alegre to a critical level

The Ministry of Health raises the case of dengue fever in Porto Alegre to a critical level

Endemic disease control agents travel through neighborhoods with more confirmed cases and greater spread.

Photo: Kristen Rochull/PMPA

Endemic disease control agents travel through neighborhoods with more confirmed cases and greater spread. (Photo: Kristen Rochull/PMPA)

Porto Alegre reached a new high in cases of dengue, Zika and chikungunya on Friday (8). The municipal health department has raised the capital’s classification to “critical level,” phase two of the three-disease emergency plan, which ranges from zero to 3.

According to the file, the endemic disease is characterized by a high prevalence of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in addition to an increase in cases and confirmation of severe dengue fever in a patient who has been hospitalized and has already been discharged from the hospital.

The Infectious Disease Surveillance Team via SMS launched an alert to the city’s health services, explaining the new situation and requesting more attention from environmental and epidemiological monitoring, as well as patient care. A task force is working in Porto Alegre, traveling through neighborhoods with higher prevalence and more confirmed cases to direct residents and actively search for other people with symptoms compatible with dengue, as well as clearing mosquito breeding sites.

According to the SMS Commission, 1,279 suspected cases of dengue have been reported among residents of Porto Alegre, with 725 confirmed, of which 708 were contracted in the (original) city. This is the largest number of contracted cases in the municipality since the first case was identified in 2010.

In 2019, when the northern region concentrated the most cases, 439 authentic cases of the disease were confirmed in the capital. This year, there are cases in all areas of the city, with the highest prevalence in the districts of Jardim Carvalho, Bom Jesus and Vila Nova, located in the eastern and south-central health provinces, with 422 and 81 confirmations, respectively.