Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#1

Post by igonvalue » Thu, Dec 24, 2015, 12:49 AM UTC

Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
washingtonpost.com

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#2

Post by fiatjaf » Thu, Dec 24, 2015, 1:49 AM UTC

Brazil is fighting the dengue fever for 20 years now. More than a million people get the disease each year. Every year the public policy is the same: send agents to enter the houses and search for still water. When the same measure fails for 20 years, shouldn't they be thinking of an alternative?

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#3

Post by bcook » Thu, Dec 24, 2015, 2:03 AM UTC

fiatjaf wrote: post #2

Brazil is fighting the dengue fever for 20 years now. More than a million people get the disease each year. Every year the public policy is the same: send agents to enter the houses and search for still water. When the same measure fails for 20 years, shouldn't they be thinking of an alternative?

This is either the most heartless post I have ever seen on HN, or I am unaware of some great wrong Brazil must be responsible for. Why the negativity toward Brazil?

Edit: Parent has been edited.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#4

Post by fiatjaf » Thu, Dec 24, 2015, 2:05 AM UTC

bcook wrote: post #3

fiatjaf wrote: post #2

Brazil is fighting the dengue fever for 20 years now. More than a million people get the disease each year. Every year the public policy is the same: send agents to enter the houses and search for still water. When the same measure fails for 20 years, shouldn't they be thinking of an alternative?

This is either the most heartless post I have ever seen on HN, or I am unaware of some great wrong Brazil must be responsible for. Why the negativity toward Brazil? Edit: Parent has been edited.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be heartless. I'll edit the comment.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#5

Post by fgp » Thu, Dec 24, 2015, 2:06 AM UTC

I'm yet to see good major news about Brazil this year. So far it's been microcephaly, the economy flirting with depression, corruption scandals and a political crisis. I wonder how are we going to cope with hosting the olympics amid all that

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#6

Post by Tar90 » Thu, Dec 24, 2015, 2:07 AM UTC

bcook wrote: post #3

fiatjaf wrote: post #2

Brazil is fighting the dengue fever for 20 years now. More than a million people get the disease each year. Every year the public policy is the same: send agents to enter the houses and search for still water. When the same measure fails for 20 years, shouldn't they be thinking of an alternative?

This is either the most heartless post I have ever seen on HN, or I am unaware of some great wrong Brazil must be responsible for. Why the negativity toward Brazil? Edit: Parent has been edited.

He's probably Brazilian. For some reason, some Brazilians seem to viscerally hate their country and assume that everything about it is wrong, all the while believing that all other countries in the world are magically superior by nature and don't have any problems. People call it the "slumdog syndrome" in there.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#7

Post by firasd » Thu, Dec 24, 2015, 2:12 AM UTC

fiatjaf wrote: post #2

Brazil is fighting the dengue fever for 20 years now. More than a million people get the disease each year. Every year the public policy is the same: send agents to enter the houses and search for still water. When the same measure fails for 20 years, shouldn't they be thinking of an alternative?

Making sure there aren’t stagnant pools of water in houses is also an important part of the policy in India. I mean, the vector is mosquitoes, which breed in such spaces, so I’d say it’s a low-cost/high-impact strategy.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#8

Post by benologist » Thu, Dec 24, 2015, 2:12 AM UTC

fgp wrote: post #5

I'm yet to see good major news about Brazil this year. So far it's been microcephaly, the economy flirting with depression, corruption scandals and a political crisis. I wonder how are we going to cope with hosting the olympics amid all that

The corruption scandals are pretty great news, in that they're being uncovered and prosecuted.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#9

Post by danieltillett » Thu, Dec 24, 2015, 2:26 AM UTC

The sooner we get serious and start to deal with mosquitos the better. We already know what needs to be done [1], now all we need to do is get on with. How many millions of people have to die before we solve the problem of mosquito borne disease once and for all. Are we really going to sit around for decades debating if we should use this technology or not?

Edit. For those who want to understand more about this gene driver approach (it is pretty complex and amazing genetics) this review is the best I have been able to find [2].

1. http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.343...

2. http://longnow.org/revive/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Alphey-...

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#10

Post by fgp » Thu, Dec 24, 2015, 2:29 AM UTC

benologist wrote: post #8

fgp wrote: post #5

I'm yet to see good major news about Brazil this year. So far it's been microcephaly, the economy flirting with depression, corruption scandals and a political crisis. I wonder how are we going to cope with hosting the olympics amid all that

The corruption scandals are pretty great news, in that they're being uncovered and prosecuted.

What is great news is that they are being prosecuted, but the fact that those scandals happen at all is sad.

I do get your point though, those kinds of scandals have probably been happening for a long time so it is good to finally have some of them uncovered.