In the last two days, several UK media outlets have released warnings from health experts aimed at British travelers that point to an increased risk of a dengue epidemic in southern European countries. There are several news reports that the kingdom’s national health service (NHS-National Health Service) considers dengue to be a risk in “European holiday destinations such as Croatia, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal and Madeira between spring and November ”. Recommendations are made to tourists about the care they should take to prevent the disease and symptoms they should be aware of. Is this warning justified?
Dengue is a disease with great expression worldwide and is caused by an arbovirus. It is not transmissible directly from person to person and humans only contract it if they are bitten by an infected mosquito. The ‘Aedes aegypti’ mosquito, which may be a vector for the transmission of this disease, was detected in Madeira in 2005 and has since been monitored by the authorities. At the end of 2012 there was an outbreak of 2,170 cases of dengue in the Region.
The Madeira Health authorities, in collaboration with municipal councils and other entities, implemented a prevention and control strategy, which covers, among other aspects, information campaigns for the population and the detection and elimination of mosquito breeding sites, normally areas with water stops. A program was also developed to monitor the number of mosquitoes and their eggs, using a set of traps spread throughout the archipelago.
This information collection system managed by the Regional Health Directorate, whose data is published every week , allows us to understand the evolution of the mosquito population. Now, the most recent data, although not alarming, justify greater attention. Since the beginning of 2023, there has been a gradual increase in the number of eggs and mosquitoes, and there are several weeks in which the values are the highest since the critical period of 2012. To give you an idea, since the 3rd of From March to June 2, 2024, 10,317 eggs and 151 mosquitoes were detected, compared to 6,178 eggs and 131 mosquitoes in the same period in 2023.
In addition to a greater presence of the dengue transmission vector, its spread throughout more parishes and places in Madeira. At the end of last year, technicians from the Science Department of Funchal City Council verified for the first time the presence of the mosquito in places located above 400 meters of altitude, in the parishes of Santo António, São Roque and Monte.
Despite there being an increase in dengue cases worldwide, in Madeira, for now, there is no public health alert or sign of a new outbreak of the disease. In this regard, the regional director of Health, Bruna Gouveia, revealed to DIÁRIO that since 2022 only four cases of dengue fever have been diagnosed in the Region, which were “all imported from countries in South America and Africa”.
In any case, the increase in the number of mosquitoes that potentially transmit dengue fever and its spread throughout the territory are two reasons for British public health experts to issue warnings to travelers heading to certain regions and countries.
