First Zika, now a fatal H1N1 outbreak in Brazil

World Today

Brazil had to endure an explosion of Dengue Fever. Then, the same mosquito delivered the Zika Virus. Now, officials are scrambling to address a new health risk.

Dozens In Sao Paulo have died of the H1N1 virus, also known as Swine Flu.

CCTV America’s Paulo Cabral reports.

Across the country, it’s killed 102 people since the beginning of the year, most of them in Sao Paulo. With so much attention of late focused on the Zika epidemic, this H1N1 outbreak, beginning during the southern hemisphere summer, caught many people off guard.

“We don’t really know why this happened. The influenza type viruses are very unpredictable. But the there are some hypotheses: for example it would have been brought by people who traveled to the Northern Hemisphere during winter. There was much H1N1 activity in the United States this season, for example,” Dr. Helena Satto, Immunization Coordinator of Sao Paulo State said.

Health authorities boosted the yearly vaccine campaign to try to deal with the outbreak ahead of winter.