Skip to main content

Worst yellow fever outbreak in decades kills hundreds of rare monkeys in Brazil ( downtoearth)

Brazil is witnessing the worst yellow fever outbreak in decades that has killed at least 70 people, nearly all of them (56 people) in the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais, where the problems began. The number of confirmed yellow fever cases in the current outbreak has reached 215. Of the 166 reported deaths, 70 were confirmed, 93 were still investigated and three were discarded. While 1,060 suspected cases have been registered so far, 765 of which remain under investigation.

This year’s yellow fever outbreak is far worse than the previous most serious outbreak in 2000 when 40 deaths and 85 confirmed cases were reported.

The fever has also claimed the lives of more than 600 monkeys in Brazil's Atlantic rainforest region. It has threatened the survival of rare South American primates—Brown Howlers and Masked Titis (tree monkeys). While brown howlers are known for their impressive howls often mistaken for roars of lion, the masked titi is considered "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which has placed it on its Red List of Threatened Species.

These monkeys are falling off trees and dying on the ground in the forests of Espirito Santo, another southeastern state in Brazil.

According to Sergio Lucena, a professor at the Federal University of Espírito Santo, the rare buffy-headed marmoset, endemic to the rainforests of south-eastern Brazil, is also threatened by the yellow fever virus and dying.

Yellow fever is a viral disease found in tropical regions of Africa and the Americas. It affects humans and monkeys and is transmitted by the same type of mosquito that spreads dengue and the Zika virus.

Most people recover from yellow fever after the first phase of infection, which usually involves fever, headache, shivers, loss of appetite and nausea or vomiting, according to the World Health Organization.

While millions of people in Brazil have been vaccinated to prevent the outbreak from turning into an epidemic, no such protection is available for monkeys.

Is the outbreak linked to dam collapse?

Brazil's health officials are investigating if the latest outbreak is linked to a dam collapse last year in Minas Gerais at the Samarco iron ore mine co-owned by BHP Billiton and Vale SA.

Regarded as Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, the accident led to the dumping of 50 million tonnes of iron ore and toxic waste into the Doce River. The sludge along the riverbanks and cropland along the entire length of the 853-km-long river killed fish and other wildlife, and contaminating the drinking water supply. According to some scientists, this accident decimated the habitat and food supplies of these monkeys, which may have made them more susceptible to contracting yellow fever.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

NGT terminates chairmen of pollution control boards in 10 states (downtoearth,)

Cracking the whip on 10 State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) for ad-hoc appointments, the National Green Tribunal has ordered the termination of Chairpersons of these regulatory authorities. The concerned states are Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Rajasthan, Telangana, Haryana, Maharashtra and Manipur. The order was given last week by the principal bench of the NGT, chaired by Justice Swatanter Kumar. The recent order of June 8, 2017, comes as a follow-up to an NGT judgment given in August 2016. In that judgment, the NGT had issued directions on appointments of Chairmen and Member Secretaries of the SPCBs, emphasising on crucial roles they have in pollution control and abatement. It then specified required qualifications as well as tenure of the authorities. States were required to act on the orders within three months and frame Rules for appointment [See Box: Highlights of the NGT judgment of 2016 on criteria for SPCB chairperson appointment]. Having

High dose of Vitamin C and B3 can kill colon cancer cells: study (downtoearth)

In a first, a team of researchers has found that high doses of Vitamin C and niacin or Vitamin B3 can kill cancer stem cells. A study published in Cell Biology International showed the opposing effects of low and high dose of vitamin C and vitamin B3 on colon cancer stem cells. Led by Bipasha Bose and Sudheer Shenoy, the team found that while low doses (5-25 micromolar) of Vitamin C and B3 proliferate colon cancer stem cells, high doses (100 to 1,000 micromolar) killed cancer stem cells. Such high doses of vitamins can only be achieved through intravenous injections in colon cancer patients. The third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, colon cancer can be prevented by an intake of dietary fibre and lifestyle changes. While the next step of the researchers is to delineate the mechanisms involved in such opposing effects, they also hope to establish a therapeutic dose of Vitamin C and B3 for colon cancer stem cell therapy. “If the therapeutic dose gets validated under in vivo

SC asks Centre to strike a balance on Rohingya issue (.hindu)

Supreme Court orally indicates that the government should not deport Rohingya “now” as the Centre prevails over it to not record any such views in its formal order, citing “international ramifications”. The Supreme Court on Friday came close to ordering the government not to deport the Rohingya. It finally settled on merely observing that a balance should be struck between humanitarian concern for the community and the country's national security and economic interests. The court was hearing a bunch of petitions, one filed by persons within the Rohingya community, against a proposed move to deport over 40,000 Rohingya refugees. A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, began by orally indicating that the government should not deport Rohingya “now”, but the government prevailed on the court to not pass any formal order, citing “international ramifications”. With this, the status quo continues even though the court gave the community liberty to approach i