Now it’s nearing epic proportions: Brazil is home to seven out of every 10 new dengue cases in Latin America, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. In 2002, nearly three quarters of a million Brazilians took ill and 91 died from the virus—nicknamed “breakbone” for the severe body pains it causes—and already this year, 54 people have perished in Rio, where the infection rate has doubled since the beginning of 2007. To make matters worse, door-to-door health inspectors have been turned away from the hardest-hit areas, in favelas such as Cidade de Deus, where heavily armed drug lords rule.
Meanwhile, Rio Mayor César Maia, recently on the road in northeast Brazil, prayed to a local saint to “carry the dengue mosquito out to sea.” The residents of Rio were rather hoping for something more.
