Brazil sees sharp rise in chikungunya cases

Brazil recorded 170 000 cases of chikungunya virus disease in the first half of this year—10 times the number seen in the same period in 2015, health ministry records show. Deaths have also risen from six in 2015 to 38 so far this year.1

Brazil now accounts for 94% of confirmed cases of the disease in the Americas, according to the Pan American Health Organization.2

Chikungunya virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same mosquito that carries the Zika virus—which has been declared a public health emergency in …