The number of cases of toxoplasmosis in Santa Maria reaches 594, bullet points | Rio Grande do Sul

In all, in 2018, 1,563 cases of the disease have already been reported, of which 1,291 were considered suspicious and another 212 are still in need of clbadification.

Of the suspected cases, 594 were confirmed by laboratory tests, 262 were rejected and 435 were still under investigation.

The outbreak, confirmed on April 19, is already considered the largest ever recorded in Rio Grande do Sul in history. Health officials have not yet identified the cause.

Last Tuesday (26), Osnei Okumoto, head of the National Health Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health, pointed out that the source of toxoplasmosis contamination in the city is still being studied, but that main suspicions with respect to water or vegetables.

On the statement of Health Minister Gilberto Occhi last week, claiming that the cause was water, the group's authorities described the speech as "misunderstanding".

Still according to him, foods like pork, beef, mutton and sausage have already been eliminated as probable causes during the study.

Although the minister said the cause was water, the State Department 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, did not confirm the presence of the protozoan DNA responsible for the disease, Toxoplasma gondii.

Still water samples from the dam, artesian well, slope and mud from the confirmed case tanks are still being examined in Paraná.

The Mayor of Santa Maria, Jorge Pozzobom, even described as "irresponsible" the statement of the Minister of Health, still according to the mayor, until the situation is clarified, the recommendation is to boil water before drinking. Ingest raw foods and undercooked meats.

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

The company planned the cleaning of the city's water tanks, which began to be held on 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 by ingestion of oocysts [onde o parasita se desenvolve] from soil, sand, bins contaminated by 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 occur, but may be:

• Fever
• Fatigue
• Malaise
• Inflamed Ganglions

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

• Do not eat raw meat or malcozidas
• Eat only well-washed vegetables and fruits with running water
• Avoid the contact with cat feces. In addition to avoiding contact with cats, pregnant women must undergo appropriate (prenatal) medical follow-up. Some countries have been successful in preventing intrauterine contamination by performing laboratory tests in all pregnant women
• In immunodeficient persons, prevention may be necessary with the use of drugs depending on a particular situation. individual badysis of each case