Amazonas surpasses the number of confirmed cases of measles for the first time, according to the Ministry of Health | Amazonas

Since February this year, Roraima has recorded a greater number of cases of the disease due to the entry of Venezuelans in the state. However, recordings have become more common in Amazonas.

Roraima confirmed 200 cases of the disease, 177 are still under investigation and 35 have been rejected, totaling 412 reported cases.

Already in Amazonas, the Member State reported that 1,368 cases were still under investigation and that 125 of them had been abandoned. In total, there are 1,756 notifications in the state, or 82.1% (1,441) in Manaus.

The concentration of cases of the disease in the capital caused the anticipation of the campaign against measles, scheduled for August. With the vaccination carried out in April, the strategy is to prevent the virus from continuing to circulate in a sustainable way in Brazil.

Only between January and June, more than 487,400 doses of the triple viral vaccine were sent to the Amazon. As of June 18, vaccination coverage in the Amazon reached 155,510 children, or 81.2% of the target population, or 191,585 people.

Since February, the Ministry of Health has been maintaining technical teams in Amazonas to monitor actions and provide guidance to deal with the situation. Currently, priority vaccination axes have been defined in the state, such as municipalities with more than 75,000 inhabitants, the metropolitan area, municipalities bordering other countries, among others.

In order to combat measles in the state, the vaccine blockade, the sweep that leads to the vaccine from house to house, as well as the isolation strategies of suspected or confirmed cases during the period of transmissibility are In progress.

MS pointed out that between 2013 and 2015, measles outbreaks occurred in Brazil, as a result of patients from other countries, and recorded 1,310 cases of this disease during this year. period.

The Municipal Department of Health (Semsa) said that he was waiting for the results of the examinations to know the causes of the deaths of two children in Manaus suspected of measles. A seven-month-old boy and a nine-year-old girl had not been vaccinated and lived in areas where suspected cases were frequent.

The date of death and the deadline for awarding the prize have not been disclosed. The North and East zones concentrate the highest incidence of measles cases in Manaus.

Measles is an acute infectious disease of a viral, severe, transmissible and extremely contagious nature. It can cause:

• fever,
• conjunctivitis,
• malaise,
• cough,
• red spots on the skin

According to data transmitted by the Department of Municipal Health (Semsa) 71 % of suspected cases of the disease are concentrated in children up to the age of five years.

Even with the end of the campaign, vaccination will be maintained for the age group and also for the range considered "routine", which includes children from 6 months to 49 years.