Between 1 January and 23 May this year, 995 cases of measles were recorded in the country (611 in Amazonas and 384 in Roraima), including two deaths, according to the WHO.
The third was confirmed on Thursday: a seven-month-old baby died in Manaus on June 28 after having had fever, skin patches, coughing and a runny nose. The local health department is now investigating whether the death of a nine-month-old baby was also due to measles.
Seven-month-old boy dies of measles in Manaus
Also in June, the seven-month-old boy dies of measles in Manaus. The Ministry of Health has also reported a high risk of polio return in at least 312 Brazilian cities, considered eradicated on the continent since 1994, after decades causing thousands of cases of childhood paralysis
. were controlled by mbad vaccination, but threatened to ravage Brazilian public health if the vaccination suffered losses.
"The return of poliomyelitis, which we have not had for more than 20 years, could mean a serious situation for Brazil." Carla Domingues, coordinator of the National Immunization Program of the Ministry of Health, said told BBC News Brazil
that the eradication of polio and measles has created fake According to the Ministry of Health
The problem of polio is due to the fact that, although '## 148 ## there has been no recent case in Brazil, a registry of the disease has been identified in neighboring Venezuela and circulation in 23 countries in the last three years.
In April, WHO also reported epidemics in Venezuela and Haiti of diphtheria, causing breathing difficulties.In Venezuela, 142 people have died of the disease since 2016. In Brazil, six suspected cases of the disease reported this year are pending confirmation. " Among the diseases already controlled in the country, I am particularly concerned about poliomyelitis, conbad rubella and, as we can see, measles, which can spread to other parts of Brazil ", explains the director of the Division of Clinical Trials and Pharmacovigilance. of the Butantan Institute, Alexander Precious Roberto. "It is necessary to increase the vaccination coverage of the population against these diseases."
Here is an overview of these diseases, from the point of view of vaccination. who may be behind their return and what precautions are needed to control them:
Since April 2018, WHO has issued an alert on the return of measles in ten countries of the Americas: Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Canada , The United States, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Antigua and Barbuda, Colombia and Venezuela.
And this is not just in the Americas – in 2017, Europe recorded more than 21,000 cases of measles, with 35 deaths, an increase of almost 400% over the previous year. Previous year.
"Cases of measles have been reported again in the Americas, mainly in Venezuela, which has stopped vaccinating its population for political and economic reasons," says the researcher of the Bacteriology Department of the Butanean Institute Paulo Lee Ho.
In 2017, with the onset of the disease in neighboring countries, the Ministry of Health warned the population of the importance of taking the triple virus, a vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella.
Triple Viral is one of 14 vaccines offered for free by the National Immunization Program. It should be taken in childhood and in two doses, the first with 12 months and the second with 15 months. In the second dose, the vaccine is boosted against a fourth disease, chickenpox, a highly contagious viral infection that causes chickenpox.
According to data from Datasus badyzed by BBC News Brazil, vaccination coverage at booster doses is well below target for all vaccines in the national immunization schedule.
In the case of the triple virus, the second dose of the vaccine does not reach the goal of vaccination, 95%, since 2012. In 2016, only 76.74% of children with 15 months of life have been vaccinated.
Of the three viruses in this vaccine, measles is considered the most dangerous. "Because it's very contagious, it has to be at least 95% of people have been vaccinated in Brazil so that measles will not spread, otherwise it's enough to have one person unvaccinated." in a city so that the virus is transmitted by an infected person. (reach him), says Carla Domingues, of the Ministry of Health.