Editor-in-Chief of the Buenos Aires Times.
Insect repellents are a popular product in Argentina, besieged by dengue-carrying mosquitoes and facing shortages that have led to supermarket fights, rations and homemade preparations.
The country is one of the most affected by the dengue epidemic affecting Latin America and the Caribbean, attributed to a wet summer intensified by the El Niño weather phenomenon.
The outbreak, which came amid an economic crisis in a country with strict import controls, has led to a severe shortage of mosquito repellent.
Some companies have opened dedicated WhatsApp channels to notify consumers when they receive them. Others impose portions of three products each. Families split up online so they can buy nine or 12 homes at a time.
In a viral video, a man appears in a park surrounded by a cloud of mosquitoes, explaining how a combination of water and an affordable local shampoo Plusbelle repels flying insects.
“I did everything at home,” says Laura Di Costa, 56, who couldn’t get repellent and ended up in hospital with dengue, which causes pain in the joints and bones, earning her the nickname “fracture fever. “
Dengue fever can cause severe hemorrhagic fever and even death. It is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that coexists with another, the Aedes albifasciatus, which has invaded the capital since January.
“I go out so I don’t faint too much, I don’t take my grandchildren to the park so I don’t get on the grass,” Di Costa added.
With at least 129 deaths so far this year, Argentina has seen a 10-fold increase from the same period last year, according to official figures.
Brazil has seen an 81% increase in cases, the highest in the region, according to the Pan American Health Organization, which has recorded 3. 5 million cases, triple what was seen in 2023.
“This is most likely going to be the worst dengue season [in the region],” said Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization.
After being criticized by the opposition for his “absence” in the crisis, libertarian President Javier Milei this week scrapped import taxes on mosquito repellents for 30 days, hoping the market would self-regulate.
Meanwhile, sprays and creams are sold on e-commerce site MercadoLibre for about $40 each, up from the usual $5, a painful sum for a population already facing 276% annual inflation and a deep economic crisis.
Many compare the shortage to what was noticed during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the costs of some products skyrocketed.
“If I had known about this situation, I would have brought several bottles from Florida,” said Ann Brody, a 51-year-old U. S. citizen who has lived in Buenos Aires for more than 20 years and just returned from a business trip. . travel north.
“When the Covid [pandemic] started, there was a shortage of hand sanitizer for a few days, but the lack of repellent goes on for months,” he said.
The government has been criticized by the opposition for refusing to introduce an existing dengue vaccine (made through Japan’s Qdengam, which requires two doses at a cost of about $140) into the national immunization schedule.
Health Minister Mario Russo told the TN channel on Thursday that he will not submit to “the pressures of laboratories”, because although “it is effective”, it is still experimental and “it is not a tool to mitigate the epidemic”.
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