With the receding of the Acre River and the return of families to their homes, the Ministry of Health warns of the risks of diseases after contact with dirty water | acre

With the Acre River receding and some families returning to their homes, the concern is now that the water is polluted from the source mixed with garbage and sewage. By coming into contact with these waters, residents can contract diseases like dengue and even leptospirosis.

The level of the Acre River is still low in the capital, Acre, and reached 15.40 meters in measurement at noon today, Friday (7), according to data from the municipality’s civil defense. Another 29 families, including about 75 people, have left the shelters in the past 24 hours.

According to the data, 3,054 people are still homeless due to the floods that swept the capital, Acre, with a total of 964 families. This number has reached more than 3,300. Rio Branco has 36 public shelters.

After several days without rain, it rained again in the capital on Friday. In the first seven days of April, 40.2 mm of precipitation was recorded. The forecast for April is 195.9 mm.

With the tide, mud and rubble took many of the capital’s neighborhood streets. As is the case in Al-Qaida neighborhood, one of those affected by the spring flood.

In an interview with Rede Amazônica Acre, the Deputy Secretary of State for Health, Ana Cristina, said that the recommendation is that families avoid direct contact with contaminated water as much as possible while cleaning homes and facilities. If this is not possible, the resident should seek out a health unit when symptoms of fever, headache, and body aches appear.

“We’re watching what’s going on, we’ve got a lot of dengue cases, Covid under control, people are vaccinated, and even most patients are asymptomatic. We have a leptospirosis issue that’s very concerning at this moment,” he highlighted.

Also during the interview, the deputy minister noted that the Orabis family of Maria Barroso, Claudio Vitorino and Ronnie Meirelles work long hours, from 7 am to 10 pm, with doctors and police provided by the state government. In these, vaccination against Covid-19 will also apply.

“Diseases have become confused by the spread of dengue fever, Covid itself, there is the influenza virus and leptospirosis. These diseases have very similar symptoms, so I repeat: If you feel fever, headache and body aches, look for our health units who are ready to come. Characteristic symptoms of leptospirosis and no In other diseases there is pain in the calf, and other symptoms such as fever, headache and body aches are also characteristic of other diseases.

Anna Cristina also said that teams are in a task force to help residents since the waters of the Acre River began to rise. Specialists from the federal government’s Environmental Health Monitoring for Disaster Risks (Vigidesastres) were in the state helping Acre teams identify and treat post-flood illnesses.

“We train our doctors inside the units so that they can take care of these diseases, and our laboratories are ready to perform tests and examinations to quickly identify what is afflicting the patient, whether it is dengue, leptospirosis, Covid or other diseases so that we can deal with it properly.”

Despite the low level, Rio Branco Civil Defense reports that about 75,000 people are still affected by the flooding, which was the largest in the past eight years. The capital’s transshipment quota is 14m and the river passed this mark on March 23rd.

More than 12,100 displaced people, that is, in the homes of relatives and friends.

In all, 42 neighborhoods in the Rio Branco metropolitan area were affected by the flooding of the Acre River. In addition, there are 27 isolated rural communities of 7,500 people belonging to more than 1,800 families.

Eight municipalities in Acre have declared a state of emergency: Rio Branco, Assis Brasil, Brasil, Epitaciolandia, Exapuri, Sina Madureira, Porto Acre, Capixaba. On March 25, the federal government recognized a state of emergency in Rio Branco due to the damage caused by the rains and on March 29 it recognized a state of emergency in Brazil, Epitaciolandia, and Capure. On Tuesday (4), the union recognized the decree of Assis Brasil.

On March 26, the Ministers of Regional Integration and Development, Valdez Joyce, the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, and the National Secretary of Civil Defense, Walney Wolf, arrived in Acre in a flight over the flooded areas. They toured neighborhoods, spoke to residents, and secured the immediate release of R$1.4 million for humanitarian aid.