Brazilian MOH Microcephaly Summary Report - Week 4

Credit - Brazil MOH

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The Brazilian MOH has published their latest weekly surveillance report on suspected and confirmed microcephalic births, adding more than 600 suspected cases over the past week.  This represents the largest one-week increase in suspected cases we've seen to date.  

The net-under-investigation number only increases by 212 over last week since another 134 confirmed cases and 247 discarded cases were deducted from this week's total. 

So far, of those cases fully investigated, roughly 1/3rd have been confirmed (404 of 1113) as microcephalic. While the true number of microcephalic births in Brazil prior to 2015 remains a subject of debate (see Pondering The Great Zika Unknowns), this nonetheless appears to be a substantial increase. 


Follow the link below for the full report, including a breakdown by Brazil's regions and Federative units.

Registration Date: 02/02/2016 19:02:18 changed in the 02/02/2016 the 19:02:18

REPORT CARD

Health investigates 3,670 suspected cases of microcephaly in the country

They are being investigated all cases of microcephaly and other disorders of the central nervous system, including the possible relationship with the Zika virus and other congenital infections

The Ministry of Health and the states investigating 3,670 suspected cases of microcephaly across the country. This represents 76.7% of reported cases. The new report released on Wednesday (2) points out, too, that 404 cases have had microcephaly confirmation and / or other disorders of the central nervous system, and 17 with respect to the Zika virus. Other 709 reported cases have been discarded. In all, 4,783 suspected cases of microcephaly were registered by 30 January.

The new figures show rise in cases already classified as confirmed and discarded in the last week, compared to previous weeks. The growth of the investigated and classified cases was 52%, with respect to the report on 23 January. Were 732 last week, moving to the current 1,113.

In total, 76 deaths were reported by microcephaly and / or alteration of the central nervous system after delivery (stillbirth) or during pregnancy (miscarriage). Of these, 15 were investigated and confirmed to microcephaly and / or alteration of the central nervous system, and five had identification Zika virus in fetal tissue. Another 56 are still under investigation and five have already been discarded.

It should be noted that the Ministry of Health is investigating all cases of microcephaly and other disorders of the central nervous system, informed by the states and the possible relationship with the Zika virus and other congenital infections. The microcephaly can be caused by various infectious agents beyond Zika, such as syphilis, toxoplasmosis, Other Infectious Agents, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus and Herpes Viral.

According to the report, the 404 confirmed cases since the beginning of the investigation on 22 October last year - were recorded in 156 municipalities in nine Brazilian states: Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte , Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. The Northeast region has 98% of the municipalities with confirmed cases, and Pernambuco continues with the highest number of municipalities with confirmed cases (56), followed by the states of Rio Grande do Norte (31) , Paraíba (24), Bahia (23), Alagoas (10), Piauí (6), Ceará (3), Rio de Janeiro (2) and Rio Grande do Sul (1).

So far, they are with indigenous circulation of Zika virus 22 units of the federation. They are: Goiás, Minas Gerais, Federal District, Mato Grosso do Sul, Roraima, Amazonas, Para, Rondonia, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhao, Piaui, Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Bahia, Espírito Santo , Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Parana.

Guidance- The Ministry of Health advises pregnant women to adopt measures to reduce the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, with the elimination of breeding sites, and protect themselves from mosquito exposure, keeping doors and windows closed or screened, wear pants and shirt Sleeve and use repellents allowed for pregnant women.

ZIKA - The Ministry of Health will announce in the coming weeks the compulsory notification of cases identified as infection Zika virus in Brazil. Currently, the Unified Health System (SUS) does not count the number of cases of infections Zika. Currently, the monitoring is done by the sentinel surveillance system to monitor the circulation of the virus and provide support for measures to prevent the disease.