TikTok star and Peruvian engineer Jainer Moises Pinedo Vargas died on Sunday, Aug. 18, due to complications from dengue fever.
The 34-year-old content creator, known online as the “Dancing Engineer,” first contracted the disease on July 21 while in Condorcanqui Province, Peru, local outlet Peru21 reports. Red Prestacional Lambayeque del Seguro Social de Salud – EsSalud also confirmed his death in a press release shared with Peru21, writing, “The management of the Red Prestacional Lambayeque de EsSalud extends their sincere condolences to the family, friends and loved ones.”
Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne illness prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions, is characterized by symptoms such as headache, vomiting and swollen glands, according to the Mayo Clinic. Vargas’ condition worsened when he developed pneumonia, leading to his hospitalization in Bagua, according to Peru21. After doctors discovered fluid surrounding his lungs, he was transferred to a larger facility in Chiclayo. On Aug. 14, after his illness worsened, Vargas was on mechanical ventilation. He later suffered respiratory arrest caused by fluid re-accumulating in his lungs.
The Department of Health Deputy Minister, Ricardo Peña, told Peru21 that testing done on Vargas while he was in the ICU revealed that he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “It is most likely that this underlying disease is linked, precisely, to this outcome,” Peña told the outlet.
Vargas’ mother Betty Vargas García later wrote a tribute to her son on Facebook, writing, “Rest in peace, beloved son. We will miss you,” according to Peru21.
Jainer Moises Pinedo Vargas takes a selfie.
Jainer Moises Pinedo Vargas/Instagram
Two weeks before his death, Vargas posted a video on social media of him dancing in the hospital. In the video, he stands next to his hospital bed wearing a gown and is placed on a nasogastric tube, and while he is dancing his diaper falls down.
“I’ve wanted to do this trend for a long time. Now with 20% energy I can do it. Obviously my ‘calvin kleins’ fell off,” he wrote on the video.
“Sick people who don’t dance don’t die!! We are only with 20% of energy,” he captioned the post. At the time of writing, the video on this platform had been viewed over 225,000 times.
Jainer Moises Pinedo Vargas.
Jainer Moises Pinedo Vargas/Instagram
Vargas was best known for his choreography for the song “No se” by Explosion de Iquitos, which helped him rise to fame in 2021. Since then, he’d garnered over 53,000 followers on Instagram and 20,000 followers on TikTok.
