Dengue in the Americans has reached the highest number of cases recorded so far, with more than 2.7 million cases, including 22,127 severe cases and 1,206 deaths reported at the end of October 2019, according to a new epidemiological update from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The largest previous epidemic of dengue was in 2015, but the 2019 number of 2,733,635 cases is 13 percent higher than the 2015 numbers. Despite the increase in case numbers, the lethality rate, or the proportion of deaths in dengue cases, was 26 percent less in 2019.
The four dengue virus serotypes are present in the Americas and co-circulation of all four was reported in Brazil, Guatemala, and Mexico in 2019. Simultaneous circulation of two or more types increases the occurrence of severe cases of dengue. Brazil, given its large population, had the highest numbers in this update, with 2,070,170 cases…
