Strengthen surveillance against Dengue, implement clean-ups and train healthcare personnel, also providing information to citizens.
A new circular from the Ministry of Health has arrived which indicates that local measures for monitoring and combating vectors must be prepared, subject to planning;
identify all potential sites at risk of introducing new invasive mosquito species;
provide activities for correct communication that increase awareness of the dengue risk in the public sector.
Controls are also foreseen for blood donations.
The new indications are provided to the Regions in light of the increase in cases which is currently particularly serious in the Regions of the Americas, in view of the approaching season of greatest circulation of the tiger mosquito.
The new circular, signed by the director of prevention Francesco Vaia, invites the Regions to prepare all the measures envisaged by the National Prevention Plan (PNA).
In particular, the act calls for strengthening the surveillance of human cases of dengue throughout the national territory, especially in terms of timeliness, respect for communication flows and raising awareness among healthcare workers, including free-choice paediatricians and general practitioners. to allow rapid identification of cases.
For the Ministry it is also necessary to implement all the planned environmental remediation actions aimed at reducing the proliferation and shelter sites for mosquitoes.
(e.g. removal of potential larval outbreaks, cleaning and maintenance of immovable ones, mowing of uncultivated vegetation) and providing for the preparation of local measures for monitoring and combating vectors.
It is also necessary to "identify, as per the guidelines reported in Annex 17 of the 2020-2025 PNA, all potential sites at risk of introducing new invasive mosquito species, such as Aedes aegypti, and prepare all surveillance and control measures aimed at preventing and to counteract the possible entry and subsequent spread of these potential vectors of arbovirosis. As regards the training of personnel, it is recommended to provide updating on the subject of dengue, as well as other arboviruses considered in the PNA, for healthcare personnel, operators responsible for carrying out cleaning, sanitization and disinfestation interventions and for citizens, "in order to create the optimal situation for the activation of useful measures to combat vectors and prevent exposure to bites and for the timely identification of cases of infection". But the ministry also indicates the need to "provide activities for correct communication that increase awareness of the dengue risk in the public sector (schools, urban areas, recreational-sports places, etc.) and among health workers and that encourage active vector prevention and control behaviors, at individual level and in the community".
The act also refers to the checks that must be carried out for blood donation (donations of blood/blood components (including cord blood) and of organs, tissues and cells including peripheral and medullary blood stem cells).
In Brazil, dengue exceeds 2 million cases, a record
Brazil has surpassed the threshold of 2 million dengue cases in 2024, a historic record, according to a report published by the Ministry of Health.
The country has recorded 2,010,896 cases, including confirmed ones and those under investigation, with an incidence coefficient of 990.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the ministry's monitoring group reported.
There are 682 confirmed deaths and another 1042 are under investigation.
According to authorities, Brazil has not recorded such a high number of cases in a single year for more than two decades.
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