Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Population movements and cholera spread in Cordillera Province, Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia

1992; Elsevier BV; Volume: 340; Issue: 8811 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0140-6736(92)90432-3

1474-547X

P Guglielmetti, Alessandro Bartoloni, Mimmo Roselli, H Gamboa, Daniela Antúnez, Ida Luzzi, F. Rosmini, Francesca Paradisi,

Mosquito-borne diseases and control

The Latin American cholera epidemic began in Peru in January 1991. It had not yet reached Bolivia by July 1991. Public health officials established a surveillance system for diarrheal diseases to identify immediately any cholera case in Cordillera Province in Santa Cruz Department in Bolivia. This area lies next to Paraguay and about 150km from Argentina and has >62000 inhabitants. It has a district hospital in Camiri 9 area hospitals and several health posts. The Panamerican highway connects Camiri with Santa Cruz and Argentina. The officials distributed a report form to the 10 hospitals at the end of July 1991. Between August 1991-January 1992 the number of diarrheal cases at the hospitals remained basically constant and the number of cases among children was higher than that among adults. In February 1992 the number of 40-160) and that of >5 year old cases increased 6 times (40-240 cases). Adults were 1.6 times more likely to have experienced diarrhea than were children. Officials confirmed the 1st cholera case on February 12 and later confirmed 15 other cases. The 1st cases were Indians returning from the 2 day meeting held at the end of January to observe the 100th anniversary of the last Guarani native Indians genocide in Kuruyuki 65km south of Camiri. Guarani Indians attending the commemoration came from Argentina Paraguay and from northern Bolivia cholera infected areas. Public health officials believed that the gathering in Kuruyuki introduced cholera into the area. This supports the belief that large population movements and gathering of many people in crowded places increases the spread of cholera. Early implementation of the diarrhea surveillance system to gather descriptive data and define intervention priorities for high risk groups proved useful.