On August 26, the International Day against Dengue is celebrated around the world, a disease that is transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes and not from person to person, for which there is no specific treatment.
At the same time, every last Friday of August, National Chagas Day is celebrated in Argentina, a parasitic disease that is transmitted by the bite of the vinchuca, by infected blood transfusions (both under control) and by congenital transmission from mother to child. .
Key facts about dengue, according to PAHO
• Nearly 500 million people in the Americas are currently at risk of contracting dengue.
•The number of dengue cases in the Americas has increased in the last four decades, going from 1.5 million accumulated cases in the 1980s to 16.2 million in the decade 2010-2019.
• In 2013, an epidemic year for the region, more than 2 million cases were recorded for the first time, and an incidence of 430.8 per 100 thousand inhabitants. 37,692 cases of severe dengue and 1,280 deaths were also recorded on the continent. In 2019, a little more than 3.1 million cases were recorded, 28 thousand serious and 1,534 deaths.
• The four dengue serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DEN-V 4) circulate throughout the Americas and in some cases circulate simultaneously.
• Infection with one serotype, followed by another infection with a different serotype increases a person’s risk of severe dengue fever and even death.
• In the Americas, Aedes aegypti is the mosquito vector for dengue, and is widely distributed throughout the territory; only Canada and continental Chile are free of dengue and the vector. Uruguay has no cases of dengue, but it does have the Aedes aegypti mosquito .
• In 2008, PAHO/WHO Member States established a Network of Dengue Laboratories of the Americas (RELDA) to strengthen technical capacities for dengue diagnosis. Currently, RELDA has been expanded to include chikungunya and Zika fever and today is made up of 32 laboratories in 26 countries in the Region.
• PAHO/WHO is supporting the development of an integrated dengue surveillance system model in the context of the circulation of other arboviruses to generate standardized information for all of the Americas.
• In 2010, PAHO/WHO adapted the 2009 WHO clinical guidelines on the management of patients with dengue for use in the Americas. After its implementation, the fatality rate in dengue cases decreased from 0.07% to 0.05% in 2019, that is, a reduction of 30%. A second edition of this guide was published in 2015, incorporating new elements, including dengue during pregnancy, dengue in newborns, dengue in the elderly, and preparedness and response to dengue outbreaks.
Chagas data according to the ANLIS Malbrán Institute
• In Argentina there are currently around 1,500,000 people with Chagas and 1 in 3 can develop heart disease.
• Contrary to what is believed, there is Chagas throughout the entire country, from La Quiaca to Ushuaia and it is not exclusive to rural areas.
• The only way to know if we have Chagas is through a specific blood test. By law, all pregnant people must be tested, without exception, as well as their daughters and sons.
• The National Chagas Law (26,281), regulated in 2022, says that:
-Positive tests for Chagas should not be limiting for admission to educational institutions.
-It is prohibited to perform Chagas analysis on applicants for any job or activity.
-Studies, care, monitoring and treatment are free in all health centers in the country.
• The use of expressions such as Chagas disease, chagasic, chagasic is discouraged, since they reproduce outdated stereotypes and discourses, favoring the stigmatization of affected people.
