Brazil surpassed the mark of 1.3 million dengue cases. The number of workers on leave due to illness is already affecting services, according to media sources and a survey by the Federation of Industries of Minas Gerais (FIEMG).
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Impact on the Economy
A study by the FIEMG measured the damage of these absences to the country’s economy. The calculation uses data from the Health Ministry, which estimates cases of dengue, zika and chikungunya at more than four million this year.
According to FIEMG, 60% of those possibly infected correspond to the economically active population.
The survey added the losses to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the set of all goods and services produced by the country in a given period, to the costs of treatments. The total impact exceeds R$20 billion.
São Paulo
The Government of São Paulo decided to declare a state of emergency for dengue. On Monday (04/03), the state recorded, 31 confirmed deaths from the disease. There are still another 122 deaths under investigation, according to the state government’s monitoring panel. The total number of infected people reaches 138,259. Of these, 169 are in a condition considered serious.
The decision to declare the emergency was taken after the Emergency Operations Center (COE) recommended the measure because the state reached 311 confirmed cases of the disease for each group of 100,000 inhabitants in the last week of February.
The rate of 300 to 100,000 is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be the level at which the affected region must declare an emergency.
Rio de Janeiro
Currently, the municipality of Rio has regions that register four times or more WHO’s value of reference. The region that comprises neighborhoods such as Centro, Rio Comprido, São Cristóvão and Santa Teresa, for example, has a rate of 1,364.20. The area comprising Santa Cruz, Paciência and Sepetiba has a dengue incidence rate of 1,355.37.
The area with neighborhoods such as Santíssimo and Campo Grande has the highest rate: 1,737.53, almost six times higher than the WHO’s initial threshold for the disease to be considered an epidemic. This same region is the one that has recorded the most cases of dengue since the beginning of the year. Neighborhoods that experienced flooding, such as Guadalupe, Jardim América and Acari, also recorded a peak in incidence.
The Health Secretariat reported that Rio had reached the record number of cases registered in one day in March. There were 2,017 official cases of dengue. The municipality has, in total, 56,928 cases since the beginning of the year, representing around 53% of the total amount in the State.
Shortage of Raw Material
According to data provided by Linx, a company specializing in retail software, and published by Folha de SP, the sales of repellents increased by 26.4% in pharmacies in the first two months of the year (until the 23rd), compared to the same period in 2023, in volume. Prices followed the trend and went up by 15%.
At the same time, the largest manufacturers were not prepared for a higher-than-expected increase in sales. Manufacturers fear that there will be a lack of product because the raw material is imported and its arrival in the country can take between 30 and 150 days.
There are three active ingredients used in repellents: icaridin; deet (diethyltoluamide); and IR 3535, an asset from the multinational Merck.
Vaccination
On Saturday (02/), Health Minister Nísia Trindade stated that schools in the country will receive vaccination against different diseases. The federal government’s measure is scheduled for the second half of March, according to the minister.
Minister Trindade also stated that the government received a small offer and purchased all possible stock. She also added that the ministry is working so that Brazilian laboratories, under the leadership of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, can produce the vaccine locally. However, she stressed that this is not an immediate solution.