Pernambuco and Recife Declare State of Emergency after Epidemics Caused by Aedes aegypti Mosquito

11/30/2015 - 09h22

The state of Pernambuco declared astate of emergency due to the increase in the number of cases of chikungunya and zika, diseases transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

	Reprodução/Plos One
	The Chikungunya, spread by mosquitoes such as this Aedes aegypti, causes fever and agonizing

The decision was made a day after the Ministry of Heath said that there is a relation between the microcephaly epidemics in the Northeast of Brazil and the zika virus, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. In Pernambuco, 487 cases of microcephaly were confirmed in recent weeks.
 
The decree states  that the local and State Health Departments  were appointed as coordinators of all action on the issue and are authorized to adopt "all necessary administrative measures"  to confront the situation immediately.
 
According to government information, with the declaration of a state of emergency, the federal government has more freedom to access credit to purchase medicine and equipment and to hire temporary labor to help fight the mosquitoes' breeding sites without the need of an official decree.
 
On Monday, November 30, the governor will meet with mayors to decide on which actions will be carried out to fight the mosquito.
 
ZIKA AND MICROCEFALIA
  
The conclusion of the Ministry of Health is based on the results of exams performed on a newborn baby in Ceará by Instituto Evandro Chagas, an agency of the ministry in Belém (PA). The ministry says that blood and tissue samples of the baby, who was born with microcephaly and other genetic malformations, were identified as having the virus.
 
The government also says that the initial phase indicated that the risk for the mother is associated with the first three months of pregnancy.
 
It also stresses, however, that investigations are still necessary to confirm the period during which the mother is most vulnerable and clarifies other questions, such as how the virus is transmitted, the way it acts in the organisms and how the fetus is infected. 

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO
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