In what is the first epidemiological bulletin released by the Brazil Health Ministry with registered Zika data, we find that health officials have reported 91,300 cases through February and March this year, according to a news release Tuesday (computer translated).

Image/CDC
Image/CDC

Officials report the incidence rate at 44.7 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.

The Ministry of Health has made compulsory the reporting of cases of Zika in February this year. Since then, states and municipalities had been preparing their systems of records to forward these reports to the Ministry of Health. Prior to that, monitoring the Zika virus was conducted through sentinel surveillance.

The Southeast region had 35,505 probable cases of the disease, followed by the Northeast (30,286); Central West (17,504); North (6295) and South (1,797).

Through Apr. 2, there were 7,584 pregnant women with suspected Zika cases, and 2,844 cases were confirmed. “It is still not possible to get an idea of ​​the proportion of pregnant women infected by Zika virus, which will have babies with microcephaly. To date, the largest number of these cases were in women who had the disease in the first trimester of pregnancy”, according to the Director of Surveillance of Communicable the Ministry of Health Diseases, Claudio Maierovitch.

The Ministry of Health advises pregnant women to adopt measures to reduce the presence of Aedes aegypti, with the elimination of breeding sites, and protection against exposure to mosquitoes by keeping doors and windows closed or screened, use pants and long-sleeved shirt, and use repellents recommended for pregnant women.

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