Dengue fever has surged in Brazil’s hot rainy season, forcing health authorities to take emergency measures and start mass vaccination against the mosquito-borne illness.
Brasília will start vaccinating children aged 10-14 on Friday with Qdenga, the local government said on Wednesday.
Army troops have been deployed in the capital to help track breeding spots of the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries and spreads the dengue virus in homes and backyards wherever there is stagnant water.
Cities such as Rio de Janeiro that are preparing to celebrate Carnival starting on Saturday have taken measures to prevent an epidemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) director-general, Tedros Adhanom, visiting Brasília on Wednesday, said this dengue outbreak has been fuelled by the El Niño phenomenon that brought increased rainfall in Brazil.
In some cases, the disease can cause a more severe haemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding that can lead to death.
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