Cases of Flu More than Double, with 608 Deaths already Registered in Brazil

06/28/2018 - 11h46

Data from the newest epidemiological bulletin from the Ministry of Health indicate that the country has had 3,558 registered cases of influenza, with 608 recorded deaths - more than twice as many as during the same period in 2017.

The document totals registrations of cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome from the beginning of the year through the 23rd of June.

Of these cases, nearly 60% were attributed to H1N1, the strain of the virus most likely to result in complications.

During the same period in 2017, 1,459 cases of the flu were recorded resulting 237 deaths - which represents an increase of 143%. At the time, the predominant 3virus was H3N2, a subtype that also causes serious complications, especially among the elderly.

As of the beginning of this month, the country had registered 2,315 cases of the flu resulting in 274 deaths - 74% in patients with at least one high risk factor, like the elderly (236 deaths), people with cardiovascular disease (143 deaths) and those with diabetes (109 cases).

Until last week, 46 children less than five years of age had been fatal victims, three times as many as were registered during the same period in 2017.

This total is still lower than what was recorded in 2016, when 12,174 cases of the flu resulting in 2,220 deaths were registered during the year - the highest number recorded since the pandemic of 2009.

The national vaccination campaign ended on Friday (the 22nd) without having reached the goal set for it by the Ministry of Health.

As of Monday (the 25th), only 86% of the target population (pregnant women and those having recently given birth, the elderly, infants and children between the ages of six months and five years, health-care workers, teachers & professors, indigenous people, and the incarcerated) had been vaccinated, leaving 6.8 million people unvaccinated.

	Foto: Adriana Toffetti / A7 Press / Folhapress
	The national vaccination campaign ended on Friday (the 22nd)

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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