UNSTRUCTURED
Dengue fever, transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes, poses a significant public health challenge in tropical and subtropical regions. Dengue surveillance involves monitoring the incidence, distribution, and trends of infections through systematic data collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination. It supports public health decision-making, guiding interventions like vector control, vaccination campaigns, and public education. Herein, we report the development of a surveillance system already in use to support public health managers against dengue transmission in Foz do Iguaçu, a dengue endemic Brazilian city located in the Triple Border with Argentina and Paraguay. We present data encompassing the fieldwork organization of more than 100 health agents, gathering epidemiological and entomological data from November 2022 to April 2024, totalizing 18 months of data collection. By registering health agents, we were able to provide support for those facing issues to fill their daily milestone of inspecting 16 traps per working day. We filtered dengue transmission in the city by patients age, gender, and reporting units, as well as according to dengue virus (DENV) serotype. The entomological indices presented strong seasonal pattern, as expected. Several long-time established routines in Foz do Iguaçu have been directly impacted by the adoption of VITEC. The implementation of VITEC has enabled more efficient and accurate diagnostics of local transmission risk, leading to a better understanding of operational activity patterns and risks. Lately, local public health managers can easily identify hotspots of dengue transmission and optimize interventions toward those highly sensitive areas.