Cecília Jorge
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Cases of dengue fever, transmitted by the aedes aegypti mosquito, dropped 69% last year in Brazil, compared with 2003. Acre was the only state in which the incidence of the disease rose, 256%, from 1,514 cases in 2003 to 5,395 in 2004. The state of Paraná showed the greatest reduction in the incidence of dengue in Brazil: 99%, with only 92 cases reported in 2004. This balance sheet is included in a bulletin issued by the Ministry of Health's Secretariat of Health Surveillance (SVS).

105,894 people contracted dengue in Brazil in 2004. Two deaths were registered. So far in 2005, 472 cases have been reported.

Translation: David Silberstein