Governor Sergio Cabral of Rio de Janeiro is to consider contracting foreign medics to deal with the current severe outbreak of dengue fever affecting the city and its environs.
With current medical resources stretched to the limit, more help is expected to arrive from other states from within Brazil, but Governor Cabral has not ruled out requesting the help of Cuban doctors who dealt with their own epidemic in the 1980s.
Cases in Rio state this year are currently close to 37,000, with 67 deaths reported so far, and with medical services currently overwhelmed by the number of people affected there has been much official finger pointing.
President Lula said on Monday night that all levels of government were to blame for the extent and impact of the health crisis while Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao blamed Rio's municipal authorities, citing the failure to spray against mosquitoes early enough to control the outbreak.
Dengue fever, like malaria, is a tropical infection spread by infected mosquitoes that often breed near stagnant water. Symptoms include muscle cramps, headaches, weakness and fever. It is hemorrhagic in tendency, sometimes resulting in bruising and internal bleeding and in rare cases it can prove fatal.
From 630,000 reported cases in 2007 in Latin America, 183 resulted in death.
