Dengue, zika virus, chikungunya kill 796 in 2016
The number of suspected dengue cases in 2016 was the second highest since 1990.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are seen at the Laboratory of Entomology and Ecology of the Dengue Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in San Juan, Puerto Rico, March 6, 2016.
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Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes.
Symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.
Until Dec. 24, the country registered 629 deaths caused by dengue, 159 by chikungunya and six by zika virus, a slight decrease from 2015, when the three diseases caused 1,001 deaths in the country.
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Compared with 2015, deaths caused by dengue fell but those by chikungunya increased in 2016.
In 2016, Brazil had 1.49 million suspected cases of dengue, 265,000 of chikungunya and 214,000 of zika.
In 2015, the country registered a record high of 1.64 million suspected cases, with the highest number registered in the midwestern and southeastern regions.
Chikungunya cases rose 589 per cent compared with 2015.
Unlike dengue, chikungunya and zika have only been registered in Brazil recently.
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The first chikungunya case was registered in the country in 2014, making the majority of the population is vulnerable as there are no antibodies against the disease.
Zika was first registered in Brazil in 2015 and became more prominent because of its effects on pregnant women, whose babies can have several malformations, mainly microcephaly.
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