Fatal Oropouche Virus Infections, Brazil, 2024

Oropouche virus (OROV) is an arbovirus transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, with the Culicoides paraensis mosquito species as its primary vector, causing Oropouche fever. Records of an outbreak in Brazil have so far been restricted to Central-North region of the country. However, an increase in the occurrence of cases of this disease has been observed in the state of Bahia, where the rapid spread of the OROV virus is configured as an outbreak in the South and East macro-regions of great concern for public health. This is a case-based study of acute OROV infection that led to the death of two young women without comorbidities amid an outbreak of the disease. The patient’s biological samples were subjected to routine real-time PCR assays for the diagnosis of Oropouche fever and other pathologies. In addition, serological tests and metagenomics were performed during the laboratory investigation. This study shows the need for an active and efficient surveillance system to control the spread of this virus, as well as the importance of carrying out prospective studies to better clarify the natural history of this disease.

Competition is a relevant element in any open economy. Public policies are necessary to induce economic efficiency and to create conditions to preserve or stimulate a competitive environment. This paper aims to assess the competitiveness of hydrous ethanol price in a period of political, social and economic crises, in 15 Brazilian state capitals between the years 2012 and 2019. We compared the ethanol–gasoline price ratio behavior in two different periods, before and after the import parity price policy implemented by Petrobras in 2016. Mann–Whitney and Levene’s tests, two non-parametric statistical methods, were applied to verify significant changes between these periods. The implementation of changes in Petrobras’ pricing policy from 2016 onwards caused a statistically significant increase in the ratio coefficient of variation in two-thirds of the distribution market and more than the half of analyzed retail markets. Second, overall, the cities that showed statistically significant changes in the median and coefficient of variation in the distribution market price ratio were followed by the retail market. Our findings suggest that government interventions in the fuel and byproduct final selling prices to distributors negatively impact competition between companies that are part of the fuel distribution and retail chain, also affecting the sale of biofuels in Brazil and discouraging the initiatives to use renewable fuels to reduce the emission of pollutants.

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 virus, has overloaded health systems in many contexts Conant and Wolfe (2008). Brazil has experienced more than 345,000 deaths, as of April/2021 Conant and Wolfe (2008), with dire consequences for the country’s public and private health systems. This paper aims to estimate the synchronization graph between the cities’ contagion waves from public COVID-19 data records. For this purpose, the Motif–Synchronization method Magwire et al. (2011) was applied to publicly available COVID-19 data records to determine the sequential relationship of occurrence of the waves among Bahia’s cities. We find synchronization between waves of infection between cities, suggesting diffusion of the disease in Bahia and a potential role for inter-city transportation Saba et al. (2018), Saba et al. (2014), Araújo et al. (2018) in the dynamics of this phenomenon McKee and Stuckler (2020), Chinazzi et al. (2020), Tizzoni et al. (2014). Our main contribution lies in the use of the Motif–Synchronization method applied to COVID-19 data records, with the results revealing a pattern of disease spread that extends beyond city boundaries.