Tag: Brazil

Categories : COVID Ethics and LawTags :

Inquiry Accuses Brazilian President of ‘Crimes Against Humanity’

On By ModernMedia
Image by Quicknews

A draft of a major inquiry into the Brazilian government’s handling of the COVID pandemic has recommended that the country’s President Bolsonaro should be charged with several serious crimes over his actions.

The report will be the culmination of a six-month inquiry that has revealed scandals and corruption in the country’s government.

Excerpts leaked to the media indicate that the panel wants Bolsonaro to face nine charges, though initial recommendations that the president be charged with homicide and genocide against indigenous groups were dropped on Tuesday.

The massive and highly unusual 1200 page report urges charges of crimes against humanity, forging documents and incitement to crime. It blames Bolsonaro’s policies for the deaths of 300 000 Brazilians, about half of the current COVID death toll in Brazil, which is the world’s second largest. He repeatedly pushed unproven drugs such as hydroxychloroquine long after they had found to be ineffective.

Despite the serious allegations, what this means for Bolsonaro is unclear, according to the BBC’s South America correspondent Katy Watson.

The draft report will still have to be voted on by the Senate commission, where it could be vetoed and altered. Given the political realities of Brazil, it is unclear if these will ever lead to criminal charges.
President Bolsonaro has dismissed the Congressional inquiry as politically motivated, and has frequently spoken out against COVID interventions such as lockdowns, masks and vaccinations.

In March this year, he infamously told Brazilians to “stop whining” about COVID, a day after the country saw a record rise in deaths over a 24-hour period.

However, Mr Bolsonaro’s popularity has already been dented by the pandemic, and this report could make life much harder for him if he wants to run for a second term in Brazil’s 2022 elections.

Speaking to the BBC in advance of the publication of the report, the inquiry rapporteur, Senator Renan Calheiros, said that the panel wanted to punish those who contributed to “this massacre of Brazilians”.

Source: BBC News

Categories : COVIDTags : 1 Comment

Brazil COVID Deaths Pass Half a Million

On By ModernMedia

Brazil’s COVID deaths passed 500 000 in Brazil, days after the US reported passing 600 000 deaths. Experts warn of a worsening outbreak amid slow vaccination and the onset of winter.

President Jair Bolsonaro refuses to back measures like social distancing even as the virus continues to take its toll. With only 11% of adults vaccinated, Brazil’s health institute Fiocruz says the situation is “critical”.

Heavy criticism has been directed at President Bolsonaro for not implementing a co-ordinated national response and for his vaccine scepticism, lockdowns and mask-wearing requirements, which he has sought to loosen.

The country has reported, on average, 70 000 cases and 2 000 deaths daily in the past week. Most new cases were among those aged 20-59, Fiocruz said, warning that the start of winter in the southern hemisphere this week could result in more infections.

Yet governors and mayors have already relaxed nonpharmaceutical interventions. Restaurants, bars and shops have reopened in many cities, while many people in the streets are not wearing face masks or following social distancing.

“People in Brazil are tired and they normalise death now,” Dr Natalia Pasternak Taschner, a microbiologist at the Question of Science Institute, told the BBC, adding that they have a long way to go.

“If we’re not successful in changing the behaviour of people and if we don’t have campaigns for mask wearing, social distancing and vaccinations coming directly from the central government we’re not going to be able to control it.”

On Saturday, protests against President Bolsonaro were held in cities across the country, with demonstrators accusing him of delaying the purchase of vaccines yet prioritising unproven treatments, such as hydroxychloroquine.

More transmissible variants of the virus have driven Brazil’s outbreak, including the one first identified in the Amazon region which is now known as Gamma. Occupancy rate for intensive care unit beds remains at or above 80% in most states, while cities struggle with vaccine supplies.

Faced with a crumbling healthcare system without the relief of lockdowns, a ‘Covid Kit‘ of ivermectin and azithromycin has been touted by the government, and which is widely prescribed. Ironically, its creator, a doctor in Mato Grosso state, died of COVID last September. In a country notorious for its excessive pill-taking, doctors are finding it difficult to recruit people into trials who have not taken ivermectin.

The Brazilian Senate is looking into President Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic. The opposition is accusing him of delaying vaccine orders for political reasons, as he has consistently downplayed the pandemic’s severity.

But President Bolsonaro maintains he has done all he can to buy vaccines from several countries, and insists the impacts of a lockdown would be worse than the pandemic.

The president has not commented on the 500 000 deaths although on Twitter, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga expressed solidarity with relatives of those who had died.

Source: BBC News

Categories : COVIDTags :

Brazil P.1 Variant May Be Twice as Transmissible

On By ModernMedia

Researchers have found evidence suggesting that the P.1 COVID variant could be twice as transmissible as prior strains. The findings were published in the Journal Science.

The P.1 SARS-CoV-2 variant was first detected in four travellers from Brazil during a routine screening at Haneda airport, Tokyo. Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas in Brazil was the origin of the variant. According to preliminary investigations, the virus emerged late in 2020, beginning to spread in November and then quickly became the dominant strain. This prompted many to believe that it could reinfect those infected with the initial strain.

Some 70% of the residents in the city were believed to have been infected during the initial infection period. After variant infections rose in Manaus, the P.1 variant soon spread throughout Brazil, and then to other countries—thus far, it has been detected in at least 37 countries.

The researchers used molecular clock analysis to determine that the virus had 17 identifiable mutations and that three spike protein mutations (N501Y, E484K and K417T) allowed the virus to bind more effectively to host cells. These also may help in evading antibodies, and the researchers also found that P.1 can evade immunity granted by prior strains.

In simulations, P.1 was 1.7 to 2.4 times more transmissible than the prior virus baseline, but whether this was due to longer persistence in the body or increased viral load could not be determined. Additionally, it could not be established if it increased disease severity or raised mortality rates. Though people inffected with the variant were 1.2 to 1.9 times as likely to die, this could have been a result of the severe strain the overburdened healthcare systems were experiencing in the city.

More work is needed to find out whether the P.1 strain can infect those infected with prior strains or have been vaccinated, the researchers said.

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Nuno R. Faria et al. Genomics and epidemiology of the P.1 SARS-CoV-2 lineage in Manaus, Brazil, Science (2021). DOI: 10.1126/science.abh2644

Categories : PaediatricsTags :

Parents can Transmit Periodontitis-causing Bacteria to Children

On By ModernMedia

A study conducted by the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) has found that adults can transmit the bacteria that cause periodontitis to their children, and even remain in the mouth when the children undergo various treatments. 

Periodontitis, which is preceded by gingivitis, is a bacterially caused inflammation of the periodontium, the tissue supporting the teeth. It is characterised by swollen and bleeding gums and halitosis, and can result in loss of teeth in severe cases.

Should the microorganisms responsible for the disease enter the bloodstream, they may trigger other kinds of inflammation in the body. The disease can be treated by cleaning the pockets around the teeth by a dentist or dental hygienist and administration of anti-inflammatory drugs or antibiotics.

“The parents’ oral microbiome is a determinant of the subgingival microbial colonization of their children,” the article’s wrote in their conclusion, adding that “dysbiotic microbiota acquired by children of periodontitis patients at an early age are resilient to shift and the community structure is maintained even after controlling the hygiene status”.

According to the first author of the article, dental surgeon Mabelle de Freitas Monteiro, she and her group have been researching periodontitis for ten years, and have observed both parents with the disease and their children, and noted the impact on their health.

“If the findings are applied to day-to-day dental practice, the study can be said to help design more direct approaches. Knowing that periodontal disease may affect the patient’s family is an incentive to use preventive treatment, seek early diagnosis and mitigate complications,” said Monteiro, who was supported by FAPESP via two projects.

The principal investigator for both of these projects was Renato Corrêa Viana Casarin, a professor at UNICAMP’s Piracicaba Dental School (FOP), who is the last author of the article .

In Prof Casarin’s view, parents’s care of their children’s dental hygiene should start when they are still infants.

“This pioneering study compares parents with and without periodontitis,” said Prof Casarin. “In children of the former, we found subgingival bacterial colonization at a very early age. However, ‘inheriting’ the problem doesn’t mean a child is fated to develop the disease in adulthood. Hence the importance of keeping an eye open for the smallest signs and seeking specialized help.”

According to the latest national dental epidemiological survey from 2010, 18% of children aged 12 had never been to the dentist and 11.7% had experienced bleeding of the gums. Of those in the 15-19 age group, 13.6% had never visited a dental clinic. The planned 2020 survey was postponed due to COVID. According to the São Paulo State Department of Health’s  latest oral health survey in 2019 revealed that 50.5% of adults aged 35-44 complained of toothache, bleeding gums and periodontitis.

In the FOP-UNICAMP study led by Casarin and Monteiro, the team colleclected samples of subgingival biofilm and plaque from 18 adults with a history of generalised aggressive (grade C) periodontitis, their children aged 6-12, and 18 orally healthy adults.

As well as a clinical analysis, the samples were also subjected to a microbiological analysis and genetic sequencing by Ohio State University researchers.

“Children of periodontitis parents were preferentially colonized by Filifactor alocis, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Streptococcus parasanguinis, Fusobacterium nucleatum and several species belonging to the genus Selenomonas even in the absence of periodontitis,” the article states. “These pathogens also emerged as robust discriminators of the microbial signatures of children of parents with periodontitis.”

Prof Casarin told Agência FAPESP that even with bacterial plaque control and vigorous brushing, children of people with the disease still had the bacteria in their mouths, whereas the effects of dental hygiene and prophylaxis were more significant in the children of healthy subjects.

“Because the parents had periodontitis, their children assumed this community with disease characteristics. They carried the bacterial information into their adult lives,” he said, adding that the analysis of bacterial colonisation indicated the transmission was more likely from the mother. The research group’s next step is working with pregnant women to prevent bacterial colonisation of their children’s mouths.

“We’ll treat the mothers during pregnancy, before the babies are born, and try to find out if it’s possible to prevent bacterial colonization from occurring,” Casarin said, adding that studies with patients will only go ahead when the pandemic is under control.

Source: News-Medical.Net

Journal information: Monteiro, M. F., et al. (2021) Parents with periodontitis impact the subgingival colonization of their offspring. Scientific Reports. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80372-4.

Categories : COVIDTags :

Brazil’s ICU Beds Full Amidst ‘Catastrophe’

On By ModernMedia

Brazilian doctors say the situation is “well beyond chaos” even as the country’s COVID-sceptic president refuses to take decisive action against the pandemic.  

An article in The Guardian reports that Brazil is facing the worst medical crisis in its history, as researchers from its leading healthcare institute, Fiocruz, have said the country is entering into a “catastrophe”.

COVID intensive care units in virtually all of the country’s hospitals are either full or almost full, with Fiocruz warning that “The situation is absolutely critical.”

Ricardo Barros, Bolsonaro’s leader in the lower house said on Wednesday: “Our situation isn’t all that critical. Compared to other countries, it’s actually quite comfortable.” This was said on a day in which 2798 fatalities and a record 90 830 new cases were reported.

However, intensive care physicians interviewed by The Guardian tell a different story.

“Things are desperate,” said Dr Hermeto Paschoalick, the head of the critical care unit in the midwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where ICUs are currently 93% full.

Things were worse elsewhere, especially in the state’s capital. “I was told yesterday that there’s a health clinic there with 20 ambulances parked outside. The patients are arriving from small towns in the interior and there’s nowhere to put them – so they just keep them in the ambulances,” said Dr Paschoalick.

Although most in his care were over 60s, Dr Paschoalick said there were young people as well. “Right now, I’ve got three people on ventilators including a 22-year-old woman and another who is 25. Both were pregnant when they arrived. One lost the baby, the other managed to give birth. Both are intubated and in a really bad state,” he said.

Many doctors are forced to choose which patients can receive a bed in ICU.

“People are going around saying Brazil is going to collapse,” said critical care doctor Pedro Carvalho at a university hospital in the riverside town of Petrolina. “But we’ve collapsed already – completely collapsed.” 

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro meanwhile, shows no sign of changing his stance, claiming that there is a “war” against him. 

Source: The Guardian

Categories : COVID HospitalsTags :

Brazil’s Hospitals Are on The Brink of Collapse

On By ModernMedia

Health systems in most of Brazil’s largest cities are close to collapse because of COVID cases, its leading health institute Fiocruz warns.

More than 80% of intensive care unit beds are occupied in the capitals of 25 of Brazil’s 27 states, Fiocruz said.  The highly contagious variant that emerged in Brazil may have serious knock-on effects for the rest of the world, health experts have warned.

In a stark warning, Fiocruz epidemiologist Jesem Orellana told AFP news agency that  “Brazil is a threat to humanity.”

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro had already provoked outrage among his citizens and rebukes from local leaders by telling people to “stop whining” about COVID. The country recorded 1972 COVID deaths on Tuesday, along with a surge to 70 000 cases — a 38% increase on last week’s figure. ICUs at 15 state capitals are at 90% capacity, said Fiocruz, and in two cities, Porto Alegre and Campo Grande, they had exceeded capacity.

“The fight against COVID was lost in 2020 and there is not the slightest chance of reversing this tragic circumstance in the first half of 2021,” Fiocruz’s Jesem Orellana said, as quoted by AFP.

“The best we can do is hope for the miracle of mass vaccination or a radical change in the management of the pandemic. Impunity in management seems to be the rule.”

Of the currently available vaccines, so far Pfizer’s has been confirmed to be effective in lab tests against a specially engineered version of the virus made to mimic the variant.

Source: BBC News

Categories : COVIDTags :

Bolsonaro Tells Brazilians to ‘Stop Whining’ About COVID

On By ModernMedia

Amidst a surge of COVID cases and deaths in Brazil that have brought its healthcare system to the brink of collapse, President Jair Bolsonaro has told its citizens to “stop whining”, saying that the country must balance economic concerns against controlling the pandemic.

According to Brazil’s health ministry, the country has suffered 260 000 deaths from the virus, the second highest in the world after the United States.

“Stop whining. How long are you going to keep crying about it?” Mr Bolsonaro said at an event. “How much longer will you stay at home and close everything? No one can stand it anymore. We regret the deaths, again, but we need a solution.”

In order to stave off further disaster, a number of local governments have started taking matters into their own hands by imposing their own curfews and other social distancing measures. 

São Paulo’s governor, João Doria, who has been particularly critical of Mr Bolsonaro’s response to the pandemic, called President Bolsonaro “a crazy guy” for attacking “governors and mayors who want to buy vaccines and help the country to end this pandemic”.

“How can we face the problem, seeing people die every day? The health system in Brazil is on the verge of collapse,” Mr Doria said.

This comes as a Duke University scientist, another Bolsonaro critic, warned of the danger of another quarter of a million deaths, and called for an immediate lockdown to help control the situation.

The situation is exacerbated by the emergence of the P.1 variant which emerged in Manaus, and has high transmissibility and the capability to evade immunity, having a 25% to 60% chance of reinfecting an immune individual.

Source: BBC News

Categories : COVIDTags :

Scientist Issues Stark Warning on Brazil’s COVID Response

On By ModernMedia

If Brazil continues to let COVID rage unchecked, it risks deadly new variants emerging to threaten the global community, a Duke University neuroscientist in Brazil told The Guardian.

Miguel Nicolelis urged the international community to put pressure on the Brazilian government, which has made little effort to manage its COVID outbreak which has so far left a quarter of a million Brazilians dead. Brazil’s COVID deaths amount to one tenth of the world’s total.

“The world must vehemently speak out over the risks Brazil is posing to the fight against the pandemic,” said Nicolelis who has spent much of the lockdown in his São Paulo flat.

“What’s the point in sorting the pandemic out in Europe or the United States, if Brazil continues to be a breeding ground for this virus?”

He said: “It’s that if you allow the virus to proliferate at the levels it is currently proliferating here, you open the door to the occurrence of new mutations and the appearance of even more lethal variants.”

Manaus, the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon, has already seen the emergence of a deadly, highly transmissible variant, P1, six cases of which have been detected in the UK already. The new variant with its “unique constellation of mutations” may also evade immunity, scientists have warned.

“Brazil is an open-air laboratory for the virus to proliferate and eventually create more lethal mutations,” Nicolelis said. “This is about the world. It’s global.”

The warning comes as hospitals around Brazil are on the verge of collapse, with a record 1726 daily deaths recorded on Tuesday.

“We’ve now gone past 250 000 deaths, and my expectation is that if nothing is done we could have lost 500 000 people here in Brazil by next March. It’s a horrifying and tragic prospect, but at this point it’s perfectly possible,” he said.

Nicoleis puts the blame squarely upon Brazil’s far right President Jair Bolsonaro. “The policies that he is failing to put into practice jeopardise the fight against the pandemic in the entire planet.”

José Gomes Temporão, who was the health minister during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, said Bolsonaro and others would have to be held accountable for their poor response.

“To this day, Brazil doesn’t have a national plan to combat COVID,” Temporão complained, criticising Bolsonaro’s failure to secure sufficient vaccines for Brazil. 

“I don’t think there is any other leader who is so obtuse, so backward, who has such a mistaken and warped vision of reality as the president of Brazil,” Temporão said. “History will condemn these people.”

Source: The Guardian