This constant increase would be due to the increase in the number of travelers from southern countries (such as Brazil) to Europe.
Watch out for mosquitoes! The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) launched an alert this Thursday, June 13, which detected a “continued upward trend” in the number of imported cases of dengue.
Climate change aggravates the phenomenon, but tourism even more, said Antoni Trilla, head of the prevention medicine and epistemologies unit at the Barcelona-UB clinic, during an interview with the Catalan channel TV3, this Thursday, June 13. Indeed, the increase in the number of dengue infections is believed to be due to an increase in the number of tourists from hot countries (such as Brazil) in Europe.
In Catalonia alone, 150 cases of dengue imported were recorded, between January and May 2024. “Alone” 233 cases were detected over the whole of 2023indicated the Spanish Secretary of Public Health.
Increase in dengue, drop in chikungunya cases
If dengue cases are rising on European territory (they would have tripled since 2018), the opposite is observed for cases of chikungunya which are starting to decline again: there have been “only” 13 cases confirmed cases (including 36 probable) and 3 confirmed cases (12 probable) of Zika, in 2023.
These viruses are transmitted by arthropods (mosquitoes, flies and spiders, etc.) which are very present during the summer season. The increase in the number of infections would be worsened by the heat but also due to tourismwhich leads to a massive flow of travelers after being potentially contaminated in endemic areas, after being bitten.
The virus is sometimes not just the result of an insect bite. It is transmitted like the flu. Thus, epidemics can create quickly.
Special attention to “the Nile virus”
The Public Health Agency of Catalonia will put in place a virus surveillance and control protocol as well asa plan to combat the tiger mosquito, but also the common mosquitoresponsible for the spread of these diseases.
The health agency also pays particular attention to “Nile virus” and malaria, increasingly transmitted by the common mosquito.
Mild symptoms
Namely that the effects of these diseases are “mild, in 95% of cases“, according to the epidemiologist. “The virus causes mild symptoms such as fever and flu”. Complications exist, “as in all diseases”, but are very rare, he added.
West Nile fever may be a little more serious and could affect the central nervous system. But the cases would be “very rare”, and would be around 5%. For now, some cases have been detected in Spain and Andalusia where patients were transferred to intensive care units due to these rare complications.
“Being infected does not lead to immunity”
According to Israel Molina, head of the international tropical diseases unit at Ball Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, “a dengue infection does not lead to immunity, quite the contrary“. And exposure to different reinfections can lead to complications, “especially among children and the elderly”she explained to TV3.
In Catalonia, a vaccine exists. It is particularly available to people who have already contracted the disease and/or traveling to “risk” areas. “The vaccine does not mean we have to relax against mosquito bites”, she warned. Because the vaccine only protects against one type of dengue, although there are several.
A “monstrous epidemic” in Brazil
More and more countries in the South are facing “monstrous epidemics” dengue fever, such as Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. During the first three months of the year, three million people have been infected. “This year, cases of dengue and other arboviruses in Latin America have been multiplied by four“recognized Israel Molina, who explains that the fact that there are many more cases than expected makes us more vigilant.
Currently, ECDC has recorded more than 7.5 million cases of dengue in 73 countries across the world so far this year.
