The country is experiencing an explosion in the number of cases, particularly in Brasilia, where the incidence is 1,700 cases of dengue per 100,000 inhabitants. Hospitals are struggling to cope. Is Brazil threatened by a major new epidemic? Barely recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic (which claimed 709,000 victims), the country is now facing the accelerated spread of another devastating virus, this time the familiar dengue fever.

The number of infections in recent weeks has soared to the point where experts are already talking of a “historic” and even “unprecedented” crisis.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can cause excruciating pain and fever, is the vector of this viral disease. Since the beginning of 2024, the Ministry of Health has recorded almost 408,000 instances of this illness, 337% higher than during the same period in 2023. Thus far, the virus has been officially blamed for the deaths of 62 persons, and 279 more “suspected” deaths are pending confirmation.