Dengue and leishmaniasis, high priorities in Brazil:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The diagnosis of Dengue fever and leishmaniasis remain high priorities of the Brazilian health ministry. The national healthcare foundation - Fundacao Nacional de Saude (Funasa) - has announced that it is continuing to train healthcare surveillance personnel specialised in these two mosquito-borne viral diseases. The last several months have seen the worst dengue epidemic in recorded history (see Clinica No 1001, p 14). In January 2002 alone, Funasa trained around 89,000 dengue surveillance agents, in a bid to improve early detection and treatment of the disease. Leishmaniasis is currently present in 19 states, with 90% of cases reported in the Northwest region.