How much of the current serious arbovirus epidemic in Brazil is dengue and how much is chikungunya?
André Ricardo Ribas Freitas, Alessandro Aldrin Pinheiro Chagas, André M. Siqueira, Luciano Pamplona de Góes Cavalcanti
Abstract
Dengue remains a serious public health problem and until 2013, it was the only arbovirus transmitted by urban species of Aedes mosquitoes in the Western Hemisphere. Justifying the adoption of clinical and epidemiological criteria for reporting probable dengue cases, to overcome insufficient laboratory capacity and to increase sensitivity during large epidemic, probable cases are those reported as suspected dengue, regardless of laboratory.1 Chikungunya was introduced to the Americas at the end of 2023, with major epidemics occurring in 2014 and 2015, and high mortality rates documented in several locations,2 in others identified only by excess deaths.