Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.explica.co/brazil-heading-for-the-perfect-storm-coronavirus-flu-dengue-and-measles/
May 18, 2020
Brazil heading for the perfect storm: coronavirus, flu, dengue and measles
Still far from the peak of the coronavirus and on the verge of the southern winter, Brazil is walking towards a perfect storm with the curve of the Covid-19 on the rise, the beginning of the influenza season, the end of the dengue fever and active outbreaks of other viruses that believed to be outdated, like measles.
As the intensive care units of the hospitals fill up, President Jair Bolsonaro continues to be engaged in a “political war” against the isolation measures of the regional governments and in favor of a return to normality.
In that crusade, two health ministers have already fallen in less than a month: Luiz Henrique Mandetta, staunch defender of quarantines, and Nelson Teich, who refused to recommend chloroquine for all types of patients with coronavirus, as the far-right leader wishes. .
Both were doctors and now, with the curve in full exponential escalation, the portfolio of Health is in the hands, on an interim basis, of Eduardo Pazuello, an Army general with no experience in the area.
Until this Saturday, Brazil registered 233,142 confirmed cases of Covid-19, already surpassing Italy and Spain, and 15,633 deaths, reinforcing itself as one of the global outbreaks of the pandemic.
The peak is expected to be reached in the coming weeks, although the coronavirus will not be the only health emergency that the precarious Brazilian public health system will have to face.
An “explosive” combination
The expansion of the coronavirus, which arrived in Brazil in February, occurs amid other infectious outbreaks that have been worrying health authorities.
The country is now overcoming the dengue peak, transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which is also a carrier of the Zika virus, yellow fever, and chikungunya, which is usually in April and May.
According to the last bulletin of the Ministry of Health, so far this year 676,928 probable cases of dengue have been reported, with an incidence rate of 322 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and 265 deaths...
May 18, 2020
Brazil heading for the perfect storm: coronavirus, flu, dengue and measles
Still far from the peak of the coronavirus and on the verge of the southern winter, Brazil is walking towards a perfect storm with the curve of the Covid-19 on the rise, the beginning of the influenza season, the end of the dengue fever and active outbreaks of other viruses that believed to be outdated, like measles.
As the intensive care units of the hospitals fill up, President Jair Bolsonaro continues to be engaged in a “political war” against the isolation measures of the regional governments and in favor of a return to normality.
In that crusade, two health ministers have already fallen in less than a month: Luiz Henrique Mandetta, staunch defender of quarantines, and Nelson Teich, who refused to recommend chloroquine for all types of patients with coronavirus, as the far-right leader wishes. .
Both were doctors and now, with the curve in full exponential escalation, the portfolio of Health is in the hands, on an interim basis, of Eduardo Pazuello, an Army general with no experience in the area.
Until this Saturday, Brazil registered 233,142 confirmed cases of Covid-19, already surpassing Italy and Spain, and 15,633 deaths, reinforcing itself as one of the global outbreaks of the pandemic.
The peak is expected to be reached in the coming weeks, although the coronavirus will not be the only health emergency that the precarious Brazilian public health system will have to face.
An “explosive” combination
The expansion of the coronavirus, which arrived in Brazil in February, occurs amid other infectious outbreaks that have been worrying health authorities.
The country is now overcoming the dengue peak, transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which is also a carrier of the Zika virus, yellow fever, and chikungunya, which is usually in April and May.
According to the last bulletin of the Ministry of Health, so far this year 676,928 probable cases of dengue have been reported, with an incidence rate of 322 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and 265 deaths...