In:

The Lancet

Authors:

Mauricio L Barreto, Manoel Barral-Netto, Rodrigo Stabeli, Naomar Almeida-Filho, Pedro F C Vasconcelos, Mauro Teixeira, Paulo Buss, Paulo E Gadelha

Since 1981, the Brazilian population has had dengue fever epidemics and all control eff orts have been unsuccessful.1 In 2014, chikungunya fever was reported for the fi rst time in the country.2 In 2015, the occurrence of Zika virus was also reported,3 along with an increase of microcephaly and brain damage in newborn babies.4,5 The mosquito Aedes aegypti is the most conventional vector of these three viral infections and is widely disseminated in a great part of urban Brazil. Brazilian public health authorities declared a National Public Health Emergency on Nov 11, 2015, and intensifi ed the vector control campaign to tackle the epidemic.6 A few months later, on Feb 1, 2016, in view of the spread of the Zika virus in several Latin American and Caribbean countries, the report of cases in North American and European citizens upon return from those countries, and concerns about reported clusters of microcephaly and other neurological disorders, WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.7

Download full publication: