Cases of severe respiratory syndrome up in 20 Brazil capitals

The number of Brazilian capitals facing an upward trend in the cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has reached 20, as per the Infogripe report, released today (May 26) by research foundation Fiocruz. A sign of continual increase in COVID-19 cases has been observed in all regions of the country.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome may be caused by SARS-CoV-2 (the COVID-19 virus) and has been monitored as a parameter to track the spread of the pandemic in the country since 2020. During the most critical times of the pandemic, over 98 percent of SARS-linked deaths with a positive test result for a respiratory virus were caused by COVID-19. In today’s report, 48 percent of SARS cases and 84 percent of fatalities attributed to viral cases of the syndrome are associated with SARS-CoV-2, considering the last four weeks.

In children of up to four years old, the document points out that the predominance of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) among the causes of SARS continues. Second comes the rhinovirus, followed by Sars-CoV-2 and the metapneumovirus.

In the epidemiological year of 2022, 141,808 cases of SARS have been reported in Brazil, of which 72,092 (50.8%) had a positive laboratory result for some respiratory virus. Of those positive for respiratory viruses, 81.5 percent were caused by SARS-CoV-2, 8.1 percent by the respiratory syncytial virus, and 5.1 percent by Influenza A.