Outbreaks of skin diseases reach new municipalities

Image caption (Photo: clone/Freepik).

The mysterious outbreak of the new skin disease in Pernambuco has affected more and more people. This Thursday, five other cities in the state (Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Igaraso, Ipojuca, Itabisuma and Nazari da Mata) have reported cases of residents showing symptoms such as itching and skin lesions. In total, there are 11 municipalities infected with the disease, representing about 300 cases, according to city councils. In Recife, the first cases were recorded in early October.

Symptoms include itching, bump-shaped lesions, and redness. The cause of the disease is not yet known, but investigations have been carried out by the city council and the health department of Pernambuco to find out the cause of the outbreak.

Investigation

After a technical note was sent last Friday (19) to the health services that all cases of skin diseases with their own symptoms have been reported, for disease action mapping, SES-PE, with the support of city halls. He sought to find the cause of the outbreak.

According to the secretariat, the investigation was carried out by the technical team of SES-PE itself, from the Central Laboratory of Pernambuco (Lacen-PE) and other specialists. So far, the cause of the disease is unknown, but hypotheses include scabies (commonly known as scabies), sexually transmitted viruses (dengue, Zika virus, chikungunya), allergic reactions and even environmental imbalances.

Cases were investigated in clinical, epidemiological and laboratory investigations, as reported on the 19th of the last day by the Executive Secretary of Health Surveillance, Marcela Abath, in a meeting with the State Department of Health and the Agio Magalhaes Institute. At a press conference on Thursday (25), Health Minister Andre Longo confirmed that biopsies had been carried out in order to find out the cause of the disease.