Dengue, alert rises at airports: tests for passengers arriving from countries at risk

Almost a month after the first circular on Dengue from the Prevention Directorate of the Ministry of Health – which raised the alert in ports and airports in Italy – a second circular is arriving in the early days of next week. After the first one which provided for the disinfestation of aircraft and ships, including cruise ships arriving from countries at risk, the new circular should provide for the use of rapid tests to be carried out on a random basis on passengers arriving from risk areas. We should start with a sample airport: the hypothesis is to start from the international one of Fiumicino.

More checks, disinfestations and testing experiments

The objective of the new circular is to tighten controls in ports and airports by Usmaf-Sasn (Maritime, Air and Border Health Offices) personnel to intensify mosquito hunting (Aedes aegypti) and prevent the vector of Dengue fever from enter Italy. Particular attention therefore, as mentioned, to an increase in disinfestations of aircraft and ships, including cruise ships. Also underway is the testing of a rapid test at the airport for those arriving from risk areas: the test should be carried out on a random basis and will be done on a voluntary basis. In 2023, 362 cases of Dengue were recorded in Italy, eighty-two of which were indigenous.

The Ministry of Health: No alarms in Italy, but prevention

The line of the general directorate of prevention of the Ministry of Health, led by Francesco Vaia, however, is not to raise alarms but to prevent and therefore not be caught unprepared in case cases increase. «In 2024, 48 confirmed cases of Dengue have been identified in the national territory, as of 21 February 2024, all imported. In light of the overview illustrated, I can only reiterate that the situation in Italy today is not alarming”, confirmed the Minister of Health himself. Orazio Schillaci responding in the Senate on February 22nd to a question on the topic of Dengue.

Dengue runs in South America: from Guatemala to Brazil

Dengue is spreading in South America and is also alarming international health authorities who fear that it could become endemic in other latitudes, including Italy. Precisely in these days the government of Guatemala has decreed a state of epidemiological alert due to the increase in dengue fever infections. The aim of the measure is to provide a faster administrative response to the transmission of the virus in the country where there are already 7 thousand cases and three deaths. While the most important and populous state of Brazil, St. Paul, decreed the emergency situation for Dengue with 311 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants. “We are in an epidemic, according to what the WHO determines regarding the number of confirmed cases,” explained Regiane de Paula, coordinator of Disease Control for the State of São Paulo. Also the Peru declared a state of emergency in several areas of the country and numerous outbreaks were also recorded in Argentina.