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Officials point fingers in Brazilian dengue outbreak

An unidentified woman with symptoms of dengue fever arrives at a Brazilian Air Force tent in the Barra de Tijuca neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro on Monday. PHOTO: AP

Brazil's government deployed the army in Rio de Janeiro on Monday to fight an outbreak of dengue fever amid squabbling between politicians over who should handle an epidemic that has sickened more than 45,000 people this year.

State officials said three new military field hospitals set up in Rio de Janeiro should help ease the shortage of hospital beds and take some of the pressure off emergency rooms packed with victims of the mosquito-borne disease.

"We have to enter into combat like we're fighting a war, to minimize the suffering of the population," field hospital commander Major Roberto Tury said.

Rio de Janeiro state, home to 16 million people, has seen more than 45,000 cases of dengue since January, compared to 25,107 cases in all of last year, officials say. Fifty-four people have died in the state this year, while more than 60 reported deaths are under investigation.

But as the proportions of epidemic became evident in the middle of last month, federal Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao singled out Rio's municipal authorities for blame, pointing out that dengue cases were down 40 percent across Brazil, while the number of cases in Rio had exploded.

He said city officials failed to heed warnings in November about an impending epidemic and failed to spray against the mosquitos early.

Rio Mayor Cesar Maia, who is a leading member of the opposition DEM party, refused to acknowledge there was an epidemic until only recently and blamed the federal government for not warning the city in time to fight the disease.

At the same press conference he announced his party would launch its own candidate for president rather than supporting a coalition candidate as they had in the past.

On Monday night, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said officials at all levels -- including himself -- are to blame for mishandling the problem.

"It's the responsibility of the president, the governor, the mayor and each resident of this country," Lula said. "If we don't clean up the water in our home, our street, our city, our state, we will all be victims of irresponsibility."

Dengue causes high fevers, severe headaches and joint pains but is not usually fatal. More than half the fatalities have been children under 13 years of age, state health authorities said. Statistics on nationwide deaths were not available.

Brazil had more than half of the 900,782 cases of dengue in the Americas last year, the Pan American Health Organization figures showed. Of the hemisphere's 317 deaths, 158 came in Brazil, including 31 in Rio state.
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