Resumo

MARTINEZ DE CUELLAR, Celia. Epidemiological characteristics of dengue in children under 15 years old in Paraguay. 2008 - 2013. Rev. Inst. Med. Trop. [online]. 2016, vol.11, n.2, pp.4-14. ISSN 1996-3696.  https://doi.org/10.18004/imt/20161124-14.

Dengue is the fastest-spread mosquito-borne viral disease in the world and has a significant socio-economic impact and burden of disease in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

The dramatic global geographic expansion and the increase in the incidence of epidemic dengue coincided exactly with urban growth and globalization. Currently, about 3.6 billion people in 124 countries live in areas at risk for this mainly urban disease.

In the Americas, Dengue is present with an endemo-epidemic pattern with outbreaks occurring every 3 to 5 years. Between 2001 and 2007, 64.6% of cases (2,798,601 cases) were reported in the Southern Cone, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay; Of which 6,733 were dengue hemorrhagic fever and 500 deaths were reported. About 98.5% of the cases were from Brazil, which also reported the highest lethality rate in the subregion. The four serotypes of the dengue virus (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4) circulate in the region.

In Paraguay, Dengue has been endemic since 2009, therefore the overall objective of this study is to describe the epidemiological characteristics of Dengue in Paraguay in the period 2008-2013. The results of the study show that in the Paraguay, the Dengue epidemics have a seasonal characteristic, where the cases are distributed in the first semester of the year, being the maximum peak observed in the months of March - April. There is also a progressive increase in the number of cases, incidence, severe cases and patients requiring hospitalization. A total of 33,384 (13.14%) required hospitalization, of which 7175 were <15 years. It was observed that 16.9% of patients <1 year required hospitalization (p <0.00001).

This study concludes that during the study period, in Paraguay there was a progressive increase in reported dengue cases as well as a temporal distribution and a progressive increase in the incidence, with a progressive increase in the burden of the disease during epidemics. The years 2008 to 2013, which were accompanied by a progressive increase in the number of serious cases, hospitalizations as well as mortality. A great health impact has been observed with the successive dengue epidemics occurring in the country.

Palavras-chave : Aedes aegypti; endemic dengue; epidemiology.

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