| Photo: Rovena Rosa / Brazil Agency |
Faced with the increase in cases of Covid-19, international health authorities are on high alert. The registration of new cases of the disease has to do with the emergence of new subvariants of Ômicron, BQ.1 and XBB. According to the first studies, they could be more transmissible and resistant to vaccine barriers.
The latest Fiocruz InfoGripe bulletin, published last Thursday (10), reports an increase in cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) with positive laboratory results for Covid-19 in the adult population of Amazonas, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro Grande do Sul and São Paulo.
According to InfoGripe coordinator Marcelo Gomes, it is not yet possible to say that this growth is specifically related to the recent identifications of new strains identified in some parts of the country.
In some states, the sign is clearer in age groups 18 and older. The exception is Rio Grande do Sul, which shows this trend only in the age groups from 60 years.
“As lab data takes longer to enter the system, the number of cases in recent weeks is expected to be greater than that observed in this update and may even increase the total number of states in such a situation,” said the researcher. from Fiocruz.
Sons
When the cut was made from capitals, Fiocruz identified a higher predominance in children. The exceptions are Manaus, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, which show growth in the over-60 age groups.
According to doctor Werciley Júnior, coordinator of Infectology at the Santa network in Brasilia, children should be the center of attention. “Although the disease in children is usually a mild form, we have two aspects. The first is that, when the form is severe, there is a high mortality rate. The other is that children carry the virus at home. If they are immunized, they will greatly reduce their transmission capacity,” he warned.
Again according to the infectologist, although so far the cases in the country are slight, the positivity records among the unvaccinated are above all worrying. The specialist stressed that the great fear of the medical community and health authorities is that this variant undergoes a new mutation and completely escapes the vaccine, causing serious illness.
“We know that the vaccination rate more or less stopped with two doses. People are not taking the third dose because there has been a huge reduction,” she noted, adding that this audience can develop severe forms of the disease.
According to the doctor, the vaccine has two important points. The first is to protect people so that those who have the disease develop the mild form.
The other point is that, with the antibodies brought by the vaccine “even if partially functional”, the infected patient decreases the viral load and cannot transmit the virus to the same number of people he transmitted without immunization.
Protection
In addition to vaccination, the infectious disease specialist recommended that people with comorbidities wear protective face masks again, avoid crowds and, in case of suspicion, get tested to avoid contaminating other people.
