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Volume 4, Number 2—June 1998
Letter

Reply to L.J. da Silva

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To the Editor: Dr. da Silva's letter raises several important points. My article, however, was never intended to be comprehensive. The choice of which emerging infectious diseases to include was difficult, especially in a country where many endemic infections continue at a high prevalence and others, thought to be controlled, are reemerging.

As Dr. da Silva states, many reports (in Portuguese and English) discuss infectious diseases in Brazil; however, this information is rarely current. The information about measles in my article is a case in point. At the time of my article, an outbreak causing national concern was occurring in Brazil; it has since been controlled. A further problem is that the most detailed and reliable studies are generally of only a regional or local nature, for example, the recent excellent report by Merchan-Hamann (1) on the situation of endemic diseases in north and northeastern Brazil and other references cited by Dr. da Silva. To obtain current information at the national level and provide numerical data rather than merely discuss current trends, I focused on notifiable diseases.

As Dr. da Silva states, schistosomiasis has continued to decrease both in the number of cases and associated illness. Onchocerciasis has been restricted to a small focus in northern Brazil for many years, and a recent report of a new focus in the state of Goias has yet to be confirmed. In my opinion, neither infection could be considered emerging. An important helminthiasis that perhaps should be mentioned is Bancroftian filariasis with a main focus in Recife and minor foci in Belem and Alagoas. Because of traditional and novel control strategies, the number of cases is declining in all foci.

The information I used about hepatitis is confirmed by the National Reference Center on Viral Hepatitis of the Ministry of Health. Febrile illnesses in the Amazon are the great enigma and probably provide the cover for many new diseases that may still emerge. For example, only approximately 20% of blood slides taken from suspected malaria patients in the Amazon are confirmed as positive, which leaves at least one million cases of febrile illness per year undiagnosed. I am unaware of any data that show Mayaro and Oropouche viruses as the most common cause of these illnesses. Dr. da Silva's letter provides useful additional information on bacterial diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and a number of low-prevalence diseases that may in time prove to be important emerging infections.

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Hooman Momen
Author affiliation: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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References

  1. Merchan-Hamann  E. Diagnostico macroregional da situacao das endemias das regioes norte e nordeste. Informe Epidemiologico do SUS. 1997;4:43114.

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Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid0402.980235

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Table of Contents – Volume 4, Number 2—June 1998

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Page created: July 21, 2010
Page updated: July 21, 2010
Page reviewed: July 21, 2010
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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