Carolina Gomez Mena
La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, January 4, 2025, p. 8
In 2024, 125,160 cases of dengue were confirmed, a figure that represents more than double those reported in 2023, when there were 54,406, according to data from the General Directorate of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health (Ssa).
In the report of epidemiological week 52 (until December 30), it details that, as a result of the above, the incidence of the disease also rose from 41.46 in 2023 to 94.60 in 2024; while deaths increased from 203 to 478 in 12 months.
The Ssa establishes in its report that 2024 has been the year with the most incidents with warning signs and severe dengue since 2012, although it warns that the fatality rate was the lowest with a rate of 0.8.
The figures indicate that in 2024 there were 56,911 dengue infections with warning signs and severe dengue, and that Colima was the state with the highest incidence of confirmed cases, with 622.33 per 100,000 inhabitants.
It adds that Jalisco registered the highest number of confirmed deaths (66), and was followed by Guerrero (61), Morelos (56), Oaxaca (44), Michoacán (37), Nayarit (34), Sinaloa (34) and Colima with 17. Aguascalientes, Baja California and Zacatecas are the entities with the fewest deaths, with one death each.
On a regional scale, 2024 was also the year with the highest incidence of this viral disease transmitted by a vector, the mosquito. Aedes aegypti. According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) last year America faced the largest dengue epidemic since 1980 with more than 12.7 million cases reported, almost three times more than in 2023. Countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico accounted for 90 percent of the cases
and Brazil recorded the highest number of incidences and deaths.
Nevertheless, Of the large number of infected, the region effectively managed the situation, with a low proportion of serious cases and deaths. More than 21,000 serious cases were reported, and the mortality rate remained below one percent
. This is attributed to the region’s efforts, which included strengthening primary health care and vector surveillance and control.
Ildefonso Fernández Salas, director of the Regional Center for Public Health Research, in Tapachula, Chiapas, an entity belonging to the National Institute of Public Health, told The Day that The outlook in 2024 is disastrous, these are the highest figures in recent years, both in Mexico and throughout Latin America
and he specified that climate change has caused the vector to now be present in areas that were not its habitat.
20 years ago or less there was no dengue in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Now there were local cases. Here in Mexico, for example, in Guanajuato and León, there was no disease, and now there is. Unfortunately, with climate change we are moving diseases and pathogens
. Also, he indicated, migrations contribute to their spread.
He added that, to the reported figures, both at the national and regional level, the “under-reporting” must be added, and maintained that this occurs especially with non-serious variants: silent dengue fever, it is also estimated that for every three confirmed cases there are about seven unconfirmed cases
.
The expert pointed out that controlling mosquito populations by reducing the sources where they lay their eggs is relevant, as well as educating and mobilizing communities in these tasks, rather than undertaking fumigations that kill other insects.
The main symptoms of this disease are high fever, intense headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint discomfort, nausea, vomiting, swollen lymph nodes, among others.
