Paraguay has witnessed many outbreaks, but some were very deadly which took many lives. The recent deadliest outbreaks in Paraguay were:
Dengue fever, a life threatening disease, is annually reported from Paraguay. In 2011, dengue outbreak occurred with 1200 cases and 38 deaths were reported in the entire nation. Asuncion city, the capital of Paraguay was mainly affected. More than 1500 cases and 22 deaths were confirmed in Alto Parana till March 2011. Another outbreak in Ciudad del Este, in February 2011, an eastern part of Parana along the Brazilian border caused 163 cases and approximately 4 were dead. Dengue fever gets transmitted through Aedes mosquitoes that bite in the day time; they favor populated areas even though they dwell in rural environments. The biggest outbreak, ever reported due to dengue, was in the year 2000 with 29,282 cases. The dengue outbreak in Asuncion was terminated by a government program of mosquito control, which until then had 1700 cases.
Yellow fever outbreak hit the country of Paraguay on February 2008 which resulted in 24 cases and 8 people died within a month. The Department of San Pedro, the east central part of Paraguay, central department, northeast region of the capital and Caaguazu was effected by the outbreak of yellow fever. This is a viral infection for which once again the mosquitoes are responsible, while the government conducted campaigns in the places that were affected. The symptoms of yellow fever are headache, muscle aches, fever, loss of appetite, vomiting and chills usually subsiding within 3 to 4 days. One out of the six persons enters into the next stage where listlessness, vomiting, jaundice, hemorrhage and kidney failure leads to death in half of the cases. If the person enters the second stage there is no treatment other than supportive care.
Paraguay was a victim of another outbreak caused by Hantavirus infections. This virus infected the people in Villa Hayes Chaco, resulting in two deaths and nine cases in July 2011. This is an infection due to various secretions and rodent droppings, which means it mainly occurs in the rural areas. The travelers or visitors are at a low risk for the Hantavirus infection. The Chaco region was previously hit by this infection during September 2008 with four deaths and 25 cases.
