Water and vegetables are designated by technicians as the main cause of toxoplasmosis in Santa Maria | Rio Grande do Sul

The most recent review published by the State Department of Rio Grande do Sul indicates that 569 cases were confirmed in 2018. The peak of recordings occurred between March and April, with no new cases confirmed with date of onset of symptoms after May 10th. .

Regarding the statement of Health Minister Gilberto Occhi last week, stating that the cause was water, the group's authorities called the speech a "misunderstanding".

"We managed to have a bigger opinion on this issue of water and vegetables, on which we are working lately and looking for more information, more samples, so we can have a final result, "commented Mr. Okumoto. 300 questionnaires applied to city dwellers.

Still according to him, foods such as pork, beef, mutton and sausage have already been eliminated as probable causes during the study. On vegetables, Okumoto mentions that there could be cross-contamination. This has not been proven yet.

"We are working with this possibility that vegetables have cross contamination, because the producer is working with the problem of water to clean these vegetables before putting them on the market for sale. water to keep vegetables cooler, and the other source is that when you get home, you wash vegetables again with the water we currently have, "he says.

"And when we talk about water, we talk about different types of water, there are residences that have water treatment network, other individual wells, d & # 39; Other artesian wells, etc. We are working with tap water, and tap water has a number of variants, we are looking at a better badysis, "he adds.

According to Okumoto, "contamination with toxoplasmosis occurs most often with water as a vehicle". But precisely because the origin of the contamination is not yet known, he points out that "we must take care of all these angles and work on them".

The State Secretary for Health, Francisco Paz, ensures that state and Union technicians are working together to solve this problem, even if the result is slow to appear.

"We have the same technical understanding that we face a difficult problem in the short term, but we work and do everything that is done anywhere in the world," he says.

In the same interview, it was announced that the fieldwork of technicians from the Ministry of Health in Santa Maria ended on Tuesday. However, the badysis and monitoring of the data follow.

Although the minister said the cause was water, the Ministry of Health denied knowing about the origin of the outbreak. According to the pulp, water samples were badyzed from the Corsan treatment station, from the water tanks in the homes of confirmed cases and in the process of a producer of vegetables.

However, the reference laboratory of the State University of Londrina, Paraná, has not confirmed the presence of the protozoan DNA responsible for the disease, Toxoplasma gondii.

Also in Paraná are samples of dam water, artesian well, slope and mud of water tanks confirmed cases.

The mayor of Santa Maria, Jorge Pozzobom, has even described as irresponsible the statement of the Minister of Health, but according to the mayor, until the situation is clarified, it is recommended that boil water before drinking and do not ingest raw food. wrong.

The Corsan of Santa Maria was surprised by the statement of Occhi at the time, and added that he was following the work of investigation.

The company has planned the cleaning of the water tanks of Santa María, which began to be held Monday (25). This work would be done next week, however, the superintendency of the company justified that technicians had already completed training, and that they were available for the task.

Toxoplasmosis, popularly known as cat disease, is an infectious disease caused by a protozoan called Toxoplasma gondii. This protozoan is easily found in nature and can cause infection in a large number of mammals and birds around the world.

According to the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases, the disease can occur due to the ingestion of oocysts [onde o parasita se desenvolve] soil, sand, bins contaminated with the feces of infected cats; ingestion of raw and undercooked meat infected with cysts, especially pork and mutton; or by transplacental infection, occurring in 40% of fetuses of mothers who contracted infection during pregnancy.

In some cases, the symptoms do not show up, but they can be:

• Fever
• Tired
• Discomfort
• Swollen glands

The incubation period of toxoplasmosis ranges from 10 to 23 days when the cause is meat consumption, and from 5 to 20 days when the reason is contact with cat feces cysts.

The Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases lists some preventive measures:

• Do not eat raw or malnourished meats;
• Eat only well-washed vegetables and fruits in flowing water;
• Avoid contact with cat feces. In addition to avoiding contact with cats, pregnant women must undergo appropriate (prenatal) medical follow-up. Some countries have successfully prevented intrauterine contamination by performing laboratory tests in all pregnant women;

In immunocompromised individuals, prevention may be necessary with the use of drugs based on an individual badysis of each case.