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Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
- fiatjaf 11y agoBrazil is fighting the dengue fever for 20 years now. More than a million people get the disease each year. Every year the public policy is the same: send agents to enter the houses and search for still water. When the same measure fails for 20 years, shouldn't they be thinking of an alternative?
- bcook 11y agoThis is either the most heartless post I have ever seen on HN, or I am unaware of some great wrong Brazil must be responsible for. Why the negativity toward Brazil? Edit: Parent has been edited.
- fiatjaf 11y agoI'm sorry. I didn't mean to be heartless. I'll edit the comment.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- Tar90 11y agoHe's probably Brazilian. For some reason, some Brazilians seem to viscerally hate their country and assume that everything about it is wrong, all the while believing that all other countries in the world are magically superior by nature and don't have any problems. People call it the "slumdog syndrome" in there.
- firasd 11y agoMaking sure there aren’t stagnant pools of water in houses is also an important part of the policy in India. I mean, the vector is mosquitoes, which breed in such spaces, so I’d say it’s a low-cost/high-impact strategy.
- geomark 11y agoSame here in Thailand. Dengue has been around for a long time and the number of cases keeps growing with 130,000 this year [1]. There are sufficient resources to battle it, but like other corrupt countries the money gets spent on projects that lend themselves to kickbacks. Maybe with the recent case of a popular celebrity [2] there will be more attention paid. That actor has undergone extreme treatment to try to save him, including several operations to stem internal bleeding, a foot amputation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. [1] http://outbreaknewstoday.com/thailand-reports-nearly-130000-dengue-cases-98721/ http://outbreaknewstoday.com/thailand-reports-nearly-130000-... [2] http://www.nationmultimedia.com/life/Fingers-crossed-as-Por-battles-severe-dengue-attac-30272821.html http://www.nationmultimedia.com/life/Fingers-crossed-as-Por-...
- fgp 11y agoI'm yet to see good major news about Brazil this year. So far it's been microcephaly, the economy flirting with depression, corruption scandals and a political crisis. I wonder how are we going to cope with hosting the olympics amid all that
- benologist 11y agoThe corruption scandals are pretty great news, in that they're being uncovered and prosecuted.
- fgp 11y agoWhat is great news is that they are being prosecuted, but the fact that those scandals happen at all is sad. I do get your point though, those kinds of scandals have probably been happening for a long time so it is good to finally have some of them uncovered.
- geomark 11y agoDid you see the news that Bloomberg calls this year's "final indignity"[1]? A dam holding back mining waste collapsed, killing 17 people and sending millions of tons of toxic mud to the coast between Rio and Bahia. [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-23/slime-coats-brazil-s-pristine-beaches-in-year-s-final-indignity http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-23/slime-coat...
- danieltillett 11y agoThe sooner we get serious and start to deal with mosquitos the better. We already know what needs to be done [1], now all we need to do is get on with. How many millions of people have to die before we solve the problem of mosquito borne disease once and for all. Are we really going to sit around for decades debating if we should use this technology or not? Edit. For those who want to understand more about this gene driver approach (it is pretty complex and amazing genetics) this review is the best I have been able to find [2]. 1. http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.3439.html http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.343... 2. http://longnow.org/revive/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Alphey-AnnRevEnt-2014-genetic-control-of-mosquitoes-copy.pdf http://longnow.org/revive/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Alphey-...
- mitchtbaum 11y agoFocusing on practical approaches seems to yield most beneficial results. I have had very good experiences in tropical climates with window screening, mosquito nets, bio-compatible repellents, traps, zappers, and would like to find more good tools.
- fiatjaf 11y agoYes!
- danieltillett 11y agoNot to be harsh did you read the article I linked to? Basically it shows us how we can wipe out all mosquitos for good without any pesticides or on going costs (it is a one-and-done approach). A world with no mosquito borne disease sounds like a pretty good idea to me. To head off the ecological discussion about using this technology, mosquitos that carry human disease play no important ecological role and if every single one disappeared tomorrow the only consequence would be millions of people would stop dying. Over 700 million people a year get a mosquito borne disease and over a million die [1]. To stop this I would gladly sacrifice every mosquito. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito-borne_disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito-borne_disease
- akiselev 11y agoAre there other examples of nations declaring a sudden state of emergency over infectious diseases that pop up like this? There's obviously Ebola, SARS, and MERS but those were all highly infectious and had effects that were nowhere near as subtle as birth and developmental complications (which isn't saying much considering how long tobacco and alcohol's effects were missed/ignored). The CDC, WHO, and many other organizations do a great job of watching out for public health and are shining examples of what societies can achieve, up there with our space programs, but how many such incidents are happening in poorer parts of the world without such infrastructuree? How many are a hop, skip, and an airline ticket away from jumping to the developed world? 》 Until a few years ago, human infections with the virus were almost unheard of. Then, for reasons scientists can't explain but think may have to do with the complicated effects of climate change, it began to pop up in far-flung parts of the world. Ugh, what? This offhand cmoment seems like nonsense meant to make the article more interesting and relevant. I have no doubt that, through some complicated and convoluted path, climate change can tip the scales jn favor of some virus or even an infectious variant, but this is too interesting and sensationalist a statement to leave unqualified.
- mbil 11y agoThe abstract of this article from 1996 sheds some light: "The incidence of mosquito-borne diseases, including malaria, dengue, and viral encephalitides, are among those diseases most sensitive to climate. Climate change would directly affect disease transmission by shifting the vector's geographic range and increasing reproductive and biting rates and by shortening the pathogen incubation period." http://jama.jamanetwork.com/mobile/article.aspx?articleid=394508&resultclick=1 http://jama.jamanetwork.com/mobile/article.aspx?articleid=39...
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- fragsworth 11y agoIt's nice that you cited the source, but what he says should be taken with a grain of salt on account of he's just a random redditor, and his name is "Mr_ButtyPoophole".
- verroq 11y agoAccording to every reply to that comment, it was reduced to match the WHO standard. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3xz6hu/brazil_declares_emergency_after_2400_babies_are/cy991os#cy991os https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3xz6hu/brazil_de... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3xz6hu/brazil_declares_emergency_after_2400_babies_are/cy9e7cw https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3xz6hu/brazil_de...
- gareim 11y agoAnd if you read further down, another reddit comment claims that it's for making sure hospitals have the resources to test everyone that most likely has the problem. There's also more information that Brazil is simply adopting WHO guidelines.
- tosseraccount 11y ago"may be the cause" "may want to hold off" "may have to do with the complicated effects ..." They need some definitive answers. The incidence of microcephaly is 1.02 per 10,000 births in the UK 2002 for microcephaly (University of Ulster, 2003). [ source : http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/m/microcephaly/prevalence.htm http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/m/microcephaly/prevalence.htm ] Birth rate in Brazil is 14.5 per 1000 births.(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2054rank.html https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...) Population of Brazil is 190,000,000. They're claiming 2400 cases in this emergency. Do the math. (as child threader indicates, it is high) Finding Zika virus a small number of cases is not a clear answer.
- mikeyouse 11y agoYou're comparing the number across births in the UK to the number across the total population of Brazil.. There aren't 190M births in Brazil every year but closer to 2.7M (birth rate of ~14/1,000) -- only counting the known cases of microencephaly yields an occurrence of 89/100,000 or about 90x as frequent as in the UK. Seems pretty substantial, no?
- lern_too_spel 11y agoI did the math. 2,400 cases / (190,000,000 people * 14.72 births / 1,000 people in 2014) = 8.6 cases per 10,000 births, which is more than 8 times the rate quoted for the UK.
- dovereconomics 11y agoUntil last week, there was a popular conspirancy linking these increasing cases of brain damage to vaccines.
- mixmastamyk 11y agoThis isn't the first dangerous disease spread by mosquitos, and may not be the last. Not to mention how incredibly annoying they are in general. I've been to Brazil a number of times, and the thing I could never understand is why, in a tropical country knee-deep in hungry disease causing mosquitos, is there not a single screen on any of the windows there? Big mistake, they're not expensive. They are cheaper and safer than rubbing chemicals into your skin every day. Here we have screens even in the desert where there are few mosquitos, they still keep out flies and moths, etc.
- PerfectElement 11y agoWhen I lived in Brazil, we had window screens, but it was on an affluent area in the coast of Rio. I'm not sure it made things that much better though. You need a lot of discipline to keep those screens shut all the time when you live in a tropical country and go outside all the time. We just learned that during the summer, around 7pm, it was time to close doors and windows and turn the A/C on.
- mixmastamyk 11y agoThere's no discipline needed, the kind I'm talking about aren't (easily) removable.
- robk 11y agoIn England at least you can't easily find them and even if you could your local council would likely not approve the planning permission to install them.
- jzwinck 11y agoIn England you don't have malaria or dengue. But if you did the council would forbid you from doing anything about it, because hey, mosquito borne disease is historic.
- djsumdog 11y agoMost counties don't have window screens. They've rare I'm Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Most of those places also don't have residential air conditioning either.
- Cieplak 11y agoMaybe it's time to deploy some DDT... http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/09/silent_spring_turns_50_biographer_william_souder_clears_up_myths_about_rachel_carson_.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201... Rachel Carson never called for the banning of pesticides. She made this clear in every public pronouncement, repeated it in an hourlong television documentary about Silent Spring, and even testified to that effect before the U.S. Senate. Carson never denied that there were beneficial uses of pesticides, notably in combatting human diseases transmitted by insects, where she said they had not only been proven effective but were morally “necessary.”
- Alex3917 11y ago> Rachel Carson never called for the banning of pesticides. It never has been banned for combatting human disease, so I don't see your point. (Except in a few places like the U.S. where several species were going extinct from extreme overuse.)
- Cieplak 11y agoThe italics indicate that I was quoting the article. The words you are quoting as mine are actually taken from the article I linked to. DDT is so effective because it is persistent, unlike pyrethrins which degrade rapidly and need to be frequently resprayed. As a result, it has significant environment side effects and finds its way into the food chain. My only point was that in this case, DDT might be the lesser of two evils.
- douche 11y agoDDT worked too well... I swear that bugs just eat Sevin and Rotenone and grow stronger. I had an uncle who had a closely guarded stockpile of DDT he bought before it started being restricted.
- cromwellian 11y agoTit-for-tat? https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27844-modified-mosquitoes-begin-blitz-on-dengue-in-brazilian-city/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27844-modified-mosqui... We release GM mosquitoes that sabotage development of mosquito newborn, and they transmit virus which sabotages ours?
- cromwellian 11y agoIt's an interesting coincidence, not a serious suggestion for those who are downvoting.
- pinkfloyd 11y agoThe lunatic is on the grass The lunatic is on the grass
- rdl 11y agoI hope we can find a better solution, but if not: sorry birds, DDT works.
- rafael92 11y agoBrazilian here. Our country is broken, unemployment has never been greater and we have a corrupt government that steals all taxes we pay. Hospitals of Rio de Janeiro and other cities are closed for lack of gloves and masks for the doctors. The situation is really bad here. Our country is great and our people work harder, if the government stop stealing we would not have those problems. The largest company in the country lost R$ 161 billions because of government Dilma Rousseff, government has disapproval of more than 80% of the population and won the election inventing a war between the rich and the poor. I do not know what will happen to children who are with dengue or zika because we dont have hospitals running. The people who were working combating mosquitoes in homes are on strike because they did not received their salaries. Worst of all is that the media does not want to show what is happening here. Excuse my bad english.
- massless83 11y agoHey Rafael, I'm guessing you born in 92... "...unemployment has never been greater... " in 1992 the unemployment rate was 12% in 2015 it will probably be around 7% I will not fix the rest of your exaggerated mistakes, but there is a lot of them...
- whatever_dude 11y agoBrazilian here. The situation has always been dire. We're just more aware of it now. In fact I'd argue that it has been much worse in some sectors (remember hyper inflation? That was just less than 30 years ago). The problem now is the growing pains and the polarization of opinion we're creating. We risk becoming a nation of black-and-white issues like, erm, the US.
- Grazester 11y agoThis is worrisome living a stone throw away from South America. Last year was the summer of Chikungunya for us. It would only be a matter of time before this disease moves further north to us.
- jiggaboo 11y agoHow are blacks affected?
- darksim905 11y agoWhy does the United States not have issues like these? Or rather, just mosquitoes in some areas in general?