Venezuela crisis could trigger outbreak of infectious diseases: study

LONDON – The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela is accelerating the resurgence of malaria, Chagas disease, dengue, Zika and other dangerous infectious diseases, and threatens to jeopardize twenty years of progress in public health, have warned experts Thursday.

In a review published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers said the worsening epidemics could spread across Venezuela's borders, potentially creating a regional public health emergency.

"In addition to the return of measles and other vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, the ongoing outbreak of malaria could soon become uncontrollable," said Martin Llewellyn, MD and lecturer at the British University of Glasgow , who led the journal with researchers from Venezuela and Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador.

He said that with the collapse of his health care system and the dramatic fall of public health programs and disease surveillance, vector-borne diseases – transmitted by insects such as mosquitoes and ticks – are increasing and have spread to new territories in Venezuela.

The World Health Organization said the country had eradicated malaria in 1961.

Llewellyn's team analyzed published and unpublished data and found that between 2010 and 2015, Venezuela experienced an estimated 359% increase in malaria cases. This was followed by a 71% increase between 2016 and 2017 due to a drop in mosquito control activities and a shortage of drugs.

The review also revealed that the crisis was having dramatic effects on other vector-borne diseases in Venezuela. The active transmission of Chagas disease, for example, is the highest observed in 20 years and the incidence of dengue fever has increased five-fold.

The researchers found that the epidemics of two other mosquito-borne diseases – chikungunya and zika – also appear to be increasing.

The researchers said their findings should also be considered in the context of massive emigration. With an average of 5,500 people leaving Venezuela every day in 2018, they said, neighboring countries are at risk of potential importation of infectious disease outbreaks.