Lhe face of Angela Marcos Andrade shows signs of worry and exhaustion. At the bedside of Osvaldo, her 2-month-old baby, the young mother pays attention to his efforts to breathe. “My son was hospitalized here, at the Enfant Jesus Municipal Pediatric Hospital, three days ago with bronchiolitis,” she explains. “He started having difficulty breathing and started coughing with the arrival of the first smoke from the fires that broke out in the area. We adults have already had trouble breathing normally for weeks,” she continues. “So imagine such a small baby!”
200 children hospitalized per day
Osvaldo is far from the only child to have been hospitalized, his lungs affected by the dry and polluted air of São Paulo. The institution where he was admitted, one of the largest in the Brazilian megacity, has been welcoming an average of 120 children a day with breathing difficulties since the beginning of September. Worse, since September 10, the number has even climbed to 200. “Pollution is obviously the factor that contributes the most to this increase,” emphasizes Antônio Madeira, the director of the pediatric hospital. “The aggression of our respiratory system facilitates the appearance of infections, whether they are caused by viruses or bacteria.”
The aggression of our respiratory system facilitates the appearance of infections, whether caused by viruses or bacteria”
“Pollution is measured by the type and size of particles in the air,” recalls infectiologist Fernando Oliveira. “The largest ones irritate the nose and throat, but the finest ones and toxic gases penetrate deep into the structures of the lungs and reach the blood, spreading the harmful effects throughout the body.” Enough to reach, in particular, the heart, brain, kidneys and liver… “This can therefore spread and cause an inflammatory process in these organs. This inflammation can itself become chronic and end up aggravating the diseases that the patient already has or not. And in the event of prolonged exposure to these fumes, the clinical picture becomes even worse.”
19,478 fires in 2024
This is the case in the Amazon, where the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reported on Monday, September 16, that it had recorded 19,478 fires since the beginning of the year. As a result, in the states of Acre and Rondônia, the Ministry of Health has recorded a significant increase in the number of treatments for nausea and vomiting in recent weeks. In the state of Amazonas, and particularly in its capital Manaus, the Amazon Health Monitoring Foundation, for its part, counted between September 1er and on September 14, 3,513 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), more than half of which were “undoubtedly” attributed to the consequences of the fumes covering the region.
Faced with the situation, the authorities are mobilizing. Teams from the National Force of the Single Health System (SUS), attached to the Ministry of Health, have been urgently dispatched, particularly to the Amazon region. Objective? “To assess the situation and provide assistance to the population”, by proportioning the commitment of material and human resources according to needs and emergencies. “This involves strengthening the teams in the health posts” [structures d’accueil sanitaire de base, notamment en milieu rural, NDLR]said Nísia Trindade, the Minister of Health. Another step, “the expansion of the supply of hydration points for the population.” And finally, “the creation of field hospitals in the event of a failure of the local health network.”
There is concern about the short-term, but also the medium- and long-term effects on people’s health.”
“For the moment, we are not experiencing a situation of lack of beds,” assured the minister. “But there is concern about the short-term, but also medium- and long-term effects on people’s health.” Messages, particularly aimed at the elderly, are regularly broadcast to alert them to the importance of hydrating their bodies and their homes. But several specialists have already expressed their deep concern for the future. “Brazil must quickly reduce the population’s exposure to smoke generated by the fires,” warned Ubirani Otero, epidemiologist and head of the Technical Sector for Environment, Work and Cancer at the National Cancer Institute (Inca). “This is the only way to avoid a significant increase in the number of cases of cancer linked to the respiratory system in the near future.”
