Friday, January 16, 2015

Brasilia Notes First “Domestic” Case of Chikungunya

1/16/2015

BRASILIA – Health authorities in Brazil’s Federal District on Thursday reported the first confirmed case of Chikungunya fever acquired in the capital, adding that they are analyzing two other “suspected” cases.

The Health Secretariat did not identify the patient, but it said that the man had not left the city in recent weeks, thus leading authorities to conclude that this is the first case of someone becoming infected in the capital.

Last year, there were a total of six cases of Chikungunya fever in Brasilia, but all of those patients had become infected in other parts of the country.

According to the latest tally released by the Health Ministry, since the disease was detected in Brazil last September there have been 2,258 registered cases of Chikungunya nationwide.

Of that total, 93 cases were considered to be “imported,” given that the patients were people with symptoms who arrived in Brazil from countries in the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Haiti.

Given the appearance of this first case of infection in Brasilia itself, local authorities announced that they have begun to intensify their campaign to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the virus and other serious diseases such as dengue fever.


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