"Xuxa" is the godmother: Brazil has launched a campaign to control the recent measles epidemic | International

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Brazil launched a vaccination campaign on Tuesday to contain a measles outbreak that mainly affects two northern states, due to a low vaccination rate and Venezuelan migration.

With the famous hostess Childhood Xuxa, the "queen of the court", as godmother of the campaign, the government aims to vaccinate polio and measles to 11.2 million. children between one and four years old, August 6 to 31, said Health Minister Gilberto Occhi.

The reappearance of measles, which has been considered eradicated in Brazil since 2016, "is linked to the low coverage (vaccination) and the presence of Venezuelans in the country" after having been confirmed the strain type, the D8, "which is the same that circulates in Venezuela," said the ministry in a statement.

Until 25 July, 822 cases of measles were identified in the eastern border areas of Roraima and Amazonas, two Venezuelan migrant receivers fleeing the severe crisis in their country, with a shortage of food, basic products and medicines.

] In confirmed cases in Roraima and Amazonas, 14 more are added in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where for 18 years no patient with measles n & # 39, has been registered; 13 in Rio Grande do Sul, two in Pará, one in Rondonia and one in São Paulo.

The ministry recorded a reduction in vaccination in the country due to several factors, including ignorance of the disease and "circulation." fake news on the internet and whatsapp causing doubts about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. "

The measles outbreak also struck the Yanomami indigenous community on the border between Brazil and Venezuela, with 67 cases and the death of a baby, the authorities Brazilian sanitation reported on July 14.

Measles is a contagious disease of respiratory transmission caused by a virus, some of its symptoms being red spots on the skin, fever, cough and conjunctivitis.

Purpose of the campaign is to vaccinate "95% of children to reduce the possibility of return of polio and the resurgence of measles", diseases that were eliminated respectively in Brazil in 1994 and in 2016.

BioBioChile – The largest press network in Chile