Disease

Mosquito-borne Disease - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Three important mosquito-borne diseases– dengue, Zika and chikungunya–were all up in 2019 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

City officials have reported 17,637 dengue fever cases through December 18 this year, a 216 percent compared to 5,577 cases reported in 2018 and the most cases reported in the city since 2016.

Concerning Zika, Rio city officials reported 1,064 cases year-to-date, a 76 percent increase compared to the 603 cases recorded last year. In 2016, a record 31,000-plus Zika cases were reported in Rio.

The largest increase of the three mosquito-borne diseases in Rio this year was with chikungunya infections. Year-to-date, more than 38, 000 cases have been seen. This is up from 10,746 chikungunya cases reported last year.

All three viruses are spread mostly by the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus). These mosquitoes bite during the day and night.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Qatar

On 5 December 2019, the National IHR Focal Point for Qatar reported three laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) infection to WHO.

Yellow fever – Mali

From 3 November through 8 December 2019, three laboratory confirmed cases of yellow fever including two deaths (case fatality rate = 67%) were detected through the national surveillance system in Mali.