3 Mosquito-borne diseases up in Rio de Janeiro

By NewsDesk @bactiman63

Three important mosquito-borne diseases– dengue, Zika and chikungunya–were all up in 2019 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

City officials have reported 17,637 dengue fever cases through December 18 this year, a 216 percent compared to 5,577 cases reported in 2018 and the most cases reported in the city since 2016.

Concerning Zika, Rio city officials reported 1,064 cases year-to-date, a 76 percent increase compared to the 603 cases recorded last year. In 2016, a record 31,000-plus Zika cases were reported in Rio.

18 infections you can get from mosquitoes

The largest increase of the three mosquito-borne diseases in Rio this year was with chikungunya infections. Year-to-date, more than 38, 000 cases have been seen. This is up from 10,746 chikungunya cases reported last year.

All three viruses are spread mostly by the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus). These mosquitoes bite during the day and night.