October 12, 2021

07:10

Victória Sales – from Cenarium

MANAUS – The Government of Amapá is considering suspending the consumption of pacu fish after the first four cases of Haff’s disease, known as “black urine disease”, were reported on Friday, 8, in the state. Two are still under investigation, according to the Superintendence of Health Surveillance (SVS). According to the body, the patients had eaten fish of this species purchased in the city of Santana, 21 kilometers away from Macapá.

The superintendent of the SVS Dorinaldo Malafaia pointed out that the people detected with the disease developed the same symptoms. “The clinical diagnoses were made by infectologists and all went through laboratory tests, which detects the amount of toxins in the bloodstream. The indicators confirm that, in fact, we have four cases”, he pointed out.

The Amapá government said that a monitoring and prevention room for the disease has been set up, and one of the first measures is the suspension of pacu fish consumption. “There are no ways to identify the contaminated fish: the toxin has no smell, taste, or color and does not disappear after cooking the meat. The indication is to reduce the consumption of fish or buy them from places where the process of transport and storage is known”, he said in a statement.

The Farming Defense and Inspection Agency of Amapá (Diagro) intensified the inspection in ports and vessels that dock in the state. In addition, all traders need to present documentation of the origin of the fish, in addition to the animal transport permit and invoice.

Consumption

For the infectologist Nelson Barbosa, the ideal is that the health organs in Amapá take an unpleasant, but essential, measure to control the number of cases: temporarily suspend the consumption of fish, especially of the species consumed by those who were diagnosed with the disease.

“But of course, the ideal is to investigate the real reason why the fish is transmitting this disease. Catch these fish and analyze the gastric content to try to verify, but we need to take into account that it is not a disease restricted to the Amazon, which is where it started, it is a worldwide disease, it was discovered in Australia”, explained the doctor.

Hospitalizations

The four people diagnosed with the “black urine disease” in Amapá are hospitalized in the State Hospital of Santana (HES), being a couple from Afuá, 77 kilometers away from Macapá, who bought the fish in Santana. Of the two suspected cases, one is hospitalized in the same hospital and the other chose to treat himself at home.