Dengue nos períodos pré, durante e pós pandemia em município mineiro: Análise de incidências e prevalências de casos

Abstract

Dengue fever is a febrile infectious acute disease that represents a significant challenge for public health in Brazil, due to its high incidence and overload on healthcare systems. Epidemiological, exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional and longitudinal study, with a quantitative approach, based on public domain data, which aimed to analyze the incidence and prevalence rates of dengue fever in the city of Uberlândia, comparing the pre-pandemic scenarios, during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the post-pandemic period. An epidemiological analysis in Uberlândia revealed that, before the pandemic (2018-2019), dengue fever cases were relatively low, with a peak of 454 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in June 2019. In 2020, there was a decrease in notifications, possibly attributed to the underreporting caused by fear of seeking health care and the suspension of disease control services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the following years, dengue showed a significant increase, reaching high incidence rates in 2023 and 2024. It is concluded that there is an urgent need to invest in public health tools, with an emphasis on health education for the population, improvements in garbage collection conditions, basic sanitation and effective vaccination coverage for the entire population. Furthermore, it is essential that there is more investment in research and public policies in order to prevent new dengue outbreaks throughout Brazil and avoid the repetition of similar scenarios in the future.