Brazil Battles Mass Dengue Fever Outbreak

Army Deployed To Fight Epidemic; Over 45,000 Sickened Since January

(AP)  Brazil's government deployed the army in Rio Monday to fight an outbreak of dengue fever amid squabbling between politicians over who should handle an epidemic that has sickened more than 45,000 people this year.

State officials said three new military field hospitals set up in Rio de Janeiro should help ease the shortage of hospital beds and take some of the pressure off emergency rooms packed with victims of the mosquito-borne disease.

"We have to enter into combat like we're fighting a war, to minimize the suffering of the population," said field hospital commander Maj. Roberto Tury.

Rio de Janeiro state, home to 16 million people, has seen more than 45,000 cases of dengue since January, compared to 25,107 cases in all of 2007, officials say. Fifty four people have died in the state this year, while more than 60 reported deaths are under investigation.

But as the proportions of epidemic became evident in mid-March, federal Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao singled out Rio's municipal authorities for blame, pointing out that dengue cases were down 40 percent across Brazil, while the number of cases in Rio had exploded.

He said city officials failed to heed warnings in November about an impending epidemic and failed to spray against the mosquitos early.

Rio Mayor Cesar Maia, who is a leading member of the opposition DEM party, refused to acknowledge there was epidemic until only recently and blamed the federal government for not warning the city in time to fight the disease. At the same press conference he announced his party would launch its own candidate for president rather than supporting a coalition candidate as they had in the past.

On Monday night, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said officials at all levels - including himself - are to blame for mishandling the problem.

"It is responsibility of the president, the governor, the mayor and each resident of this country," Silva said. "If we don't clean up the water in our home, our street, our city, our state, we will all be victims of irresponsibility."

Dengue causes high fevers, severe headaches and joint pains but is not usually fatal. More than half the fatalities have been children under 13 years of age, state health authorities said. Statistics on nationwide deaths were not available.

Brazil had more than half of the 900,782 cases of dengue in the Americas last year, according to the Pan American Health Organization. Of the hemisphere's 317 deaths, 158 came in Brazil, including 31 in Rio state.

Treating victims has been complicated by a shortage of pediatricians. On Monday, Rio de Janeiro Health Secretary Sergio Cortes requested 154 pediatricians from other states to help out.

[rushlimpdrug]

"Governor Sergio Cabral said he was considering asking Cuba to send doctors to help"

Asking Cuba?
Not the U.S.A.?

What''s that all about?
Social medicine is suppose to be bad.
Right?

[runningralph]

Socialized medicine led to Brazilian doctors coming to the US to practice in basements to try to make ends meet. The last I heard Brazil was doing great economy wise. So why are the doctors leaving? Socialized medicine. The same way welfare has led to crime ridden slums in the US. Liberal policies lead to collapse.

[mjm117]

I''m sure with a liberal in office, we''ll end up with a healtcase crisis. OH WAIT. We''re already in one.

Shoot.

[neobrian-2009]

A friend of mine in Recife,had a case of dengue in January.An attorney,her work takes her into the outlying villages. She described the pain and the helplessness that accompanies this dreadful disease.
I don`t think we can fathom how bad it is.If they take an aspirin while coming down with this,it can quickly turn fatal. She said the symptoms would literally drive you crazy.If there`s any way we can help aid the suffering,by all means we should.

[drinuk]

Time to bring back DDT, As for asking Cuba to help, Yes! their medical professionals are not *** with Big Pharma, their aim is to cure not simply provide comfort and dependency on poison drugs which do not work. The Cubans have truly embraced the Oath, "First Do No Harm" It matters little which political party is in power in this country because Big Pharma run the show with their partners in the FDA.

It would be interesting to know how many children in Cuba are suffering from Autism, here it is one in every hundred and increasing. The Cubans like the Amish do not poison their kids with MMR and dozens of other vaccines prior to their fourth year. We inflict our children so that Wall St., can share out big bucks, Wicked and Evil.

[drinuk]

The word CBS chose to blank out below is S C R E W I N G