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WORLD NEWS A11
Venezuela takes on Zika amid shortages, information blackout
FABIOLA SANCHEZ
Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)
— This is what the Zika out-
break looks like in Venezu-
ela, a country whose medi-
cal system has teetered for
months on the brink of col-
lapse:
There’s a lack of bug
spray to prevent mosquito
bites, scant contracep-
tives to avert pregnancies,
little medicine to treat Zika- by contrast, has reported
linked maladies. There has
been no effective public
health campaign to inform
the public about the dis-
ease — and nobody really
knows how many infections
there have been.
“It’s just terrible what we
are living,” said Carla Na-
tera, a 50-year-old local
government worker who
contracted Zika and spent
three days searching phar-
macies for an ointment to
calm the angry rash that
broke out on her face and
body.
William Barrientos, a doctor
and opposition lawmaker,
says the socialist govern-
ment is not equipped to
confront a health crisis in
a country where food and
medicine shortages are
acute, the economy is a
shambles and a political
crisis deepens by the day.
“There is no education
and information campaign
among the population
here,” and no tracking of
the mosquitoes that carry
the virus, he said.
The scale of what Venezu-
ela is going through is un-
clear. Officials alerted the
World Health Organization
to the first case of Zika here 30 or 40 cases of Guillain-
in November but did not
release statistics or reach
out to the public until two
months later.
The Health Ministry is now
reporting more than 5,000
suspected Zika cases and
three related deaths.
But a network of indepen-
dent physicians allied with
the opposition — the Ven-
ezuelan Society of Public
Health — says that’s likely
a dramatic underestimate.
It says a polling of local
health officials found a rise developed after she fell ill cy and price controls.
in acute fevers that could
correspond to 400,000 Zika
cases, and the outbreak
will likely reach its peak
around the end of March.
Neighboring Colombia,
more than 30,000 cases.
It’s been a year since the
government published up-
to-date epidemiological
data and reaching the
Health Ministry for informa-
tion is frustrating.
The main line for its “Zika
situation room” was out of
order when a reporter tried
to call it recently, and the
person answering another
number for the room hung
up twice. To compensate
for the lack of official fig- As the family begged for
ures, doctors have been
turning to informal surveys,
social media and even
Google analytics to try to
get a handle on the scope
of the outbreak.
The virus has been linked
to a spike in Guillain-Barre, breathe.
a rare disorder in which the
immune system attacks
the nervous system, caus-
ing temporary paralysis
that can be fatal. Health
officials say the country
has seen 255 cases of the
Guillain-Barre syndrome
since the Zika outbreak
began — a much higher
incidence than reported in
other countries grappling
with the virus.
“Normally, we’d expect
Barre a month,” said former
health minister José Félix
Oletta. “What this shows
is that the minister has the
total number of Zika cases
wrong. It’s much higher.”
Venezuela’s medical short-
ages could easily boost
the mortality rate for Guil-
Tuesday 23 February 2016
lain-Barre, which is about The country’s private, op- week. That is a lot to ask,
5 percent in developed position-leaning pharma- however, of the many Ven-
countries. Nancy Pino, a ceutical association says ezuelans who keep tubs
68-year-old retired school Venezuela only has 20 per- in their homes full of water
administrator, died last cent of the medications it to deal with chronic short-
month of Guillain-Barre that requires, a result of curren- ages.
Meanwhile, state media
over Christmas with symp- The government blames have been broadcasting
toms of Zika. the shortages on “econom- images of health officials
A man holds his sick daughter as they wait to see a doctor at a medical center near Petare
neighborhood in Caracas, Venezuela. Preventing the Zika virus’ spread in the absence of a public
campaign in a Venezuela where the health care system is near collapse means the people most
at risk, the poor, don’t even know about the epidemic. Chronic shortages have left the country
without insect repellent or contraceptives, leaving women unable to guard against pregnancy,
not to mention sexual transmission of the virus.
(AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Doctors said the woman ic war” waged by its right- on mosquito fumigation
from the lowland state of wing opponents. and immunoglobulin distri-
Anzoategui needed intra- Earlier this month, Health bution missions.
venous immunoglobulin Minister Luisana Melo in- What they haven’t been
therapy, and sent her three vited sick Venezuelans to doing with any regularity is
children on a frantic two- email requests for medi- offering the public advice
week search for the medi- cine to a state-run Gmail on how to behave.
cine after they rushed her account. Last week, Presi- Venezuelan officials say
to Caracas. dent Nicolas Maduro said the country has not yet
the country had received seen any cases of birth de-
immunoglobulin at state a special shipment of drugs fects associated with Zika,
agencies, on local televi- that will be sufficient to as have been reported in
sion channels and even at combat Zika, but did not Brazil.
the presidential palace, specify what the shipment Other countries have ad-
their mother lost the abil- included. vised women to postpone
ity to walk, speak, open The Health Ministry is ad- pregnancy until the Zika
her eyes and, finally, to vising the public to use epidemic has slowed. But in
bug spray, an item all but Venezuela, condoms and
“They shut the doors on us. impossible to come by in birth control pills are in ex-
There’s just not medicine Venezuela these days, tremely short supply, mak-
here,” daughter Nehara and to clean out their tubs ing it complicated for wom-
Ramos said. of standing water once a en to avoid pregnancy.q