A dengue outbreak in Peru has killed at least 248 people and forced health minister to resign

An outbreak of dengue fever in Peru has killed 248 people and forced the health minister to resign in what is currently Latin America’s worst dengue outbreak.

The outbreak has reportedly infected some 150,000 people so far this year, with the death toll now standing at 248. The centre of the outbreak is reportedly Piura, a town of roughly 600,000 people in the country’s northwest relatively close to the border with Ecuador.

The seriousness of the situation — and the government’s apparent inability to contain it — resulted in the resignation of health minister Rosa Gutiérrez on June 16. Ms Gutiérrez lost the confidence of much of the Peruvian public after she announced in May, despite ample evidence to the contrary, that the outbreak would be “resolved” in two weeks.

But some observers believe Ms Gutiérrez is not solely responsible for the government’s inadequate response to the crisis. Dr Leslie Soto, a spokesperson for the Medical Association of Peru, told NPR that the government should have taken preventative steps to stop a mass outbreak given the threat posed by El Niño weather. Dengue fever is spread by mosquitos, which breed more rapidly in warmer temperatures and rain like the Peruvian coast has experienced this spring.

“It’s not just the health ministry,” Dr Soto told NPR. “It’s also the education ministry, the housing ministry, infrastructure and regional governments.”

Dr Soto noted that a lack of drinkable water and sanitation services at schools in badly-hit areas have created dengue hotspots. NPR reported that nearly one in ten Peruvians lack access to running water and one in four lack access to sewage, storing water in containers that can serve as mosquito breeding grounds.

Peru similarly struggled to deal with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, suffering the world’s highest Covid mortality rate.

The country’s democracy also experienced a crisis late last year when the former President Pedro Castillo was ousted from power after he attempted to dissolve Congress under the threat of an impeachment proceeding and has been replaced in the Government Palace by Dina Boluarte.

Now, Peru’s experience with dengue fever may serve as a warning to the rest of the region as the effects of El Niño are expected to intensify through the rest of the year — and a warning as well about what might lie in store as climate change continues to intensify.

As the earth warms and El Niño weather patterns become stronger, dengue fever will likely become more common in countries in the Global South as well as the Global North.