Worsening crisis in Venezuela threatens disease surge

As the political situation in Venezuela deteriorates and a humanitarian crisis blooms, health experts warn that epidemics could push beyond the nation’s borders and potentially bring a hemisphere-wide health emergency.

Such were the conclusions of a review published in a recent edition of The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, though the news wasn’t all bad. These same experts noted that solutions are still possible, even given the nation’s fading resources, but that it will require efforts and cooperation on behalf of health authorities from throughout the region and world.

Malaria, Chagas disease, dengue and Zika all have flourished amidst Venezuela’s crisis. This, in a country once certified as the first World Health Organization nation to eradicate malaria, back in 1961. Mosquitoes, ticks and similar insects are spreading the diseases and making matters worse, and a general faltering of health programs and disease surveillance have made them more difficult to fight.

“As well as the return of measles and other vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, the continued upsurge in malaria could soon become uncontrollable. The stark reality is that in the absence of surveillance, diagnostic, and preventive measures, these figures most likely represent an underestimate of the true situation,” Dr Martin Llewellyn of the University of Glasgow, who led research alongside Venezuelan, Colombian, Brazilian and Ecuadorian colleagues, said.

To cite one example, between 2010 and 2015, the authors found that Venezuela suffered a 359 percent increase in Malaria cases (to 136,402 cases). The following two years, that figure leapt another 71 percent to 240,613 in 2016, then in 2017 to 411,586. Such figures pair with a decline in mosquito control efforts and medication shortages. Worryingly for experts, it represents the largest malaria increase in the world.

Other diseases have seen similarly worrying increases since the country slipped into turmoil. Fear of their spread to other nations has only increased as emigration continues from Venezuela en masse. At present, an average of 5,500 people left the country each day in 2018.

The authors urge regional coordination and international commitment to quashing the disease spread before a truly international health crisis can emerge. They do note, however, that the lack of disease surveillance and public health infrastructure does mean the full burden of the crisis remains, as yet, unknown.