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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| A remote Amazonian tribe has recorded its first coronavirus case |
| 2020-04-11 |
| [Bing] Brazilian health officials confirmed the first case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, among the remote Yanomami tribe in the Amazon. The Yanomami tribe is made up of approximately 38,000 people and is considered to be the largest relatively isolated tribe in South America. Brazilian Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said at a press conference on Wednesday that a 15-year-old boy from the indigenous tribe has tested positive for the disease. Brazilian health officials confirmed the first case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, among the remote Yanomami tribe in the Amazon. Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said at a press conference on Wednesday that a 15-year-old boy from the indigenous tribe has tested positive for the disease. Mandetta said that the case was "worrying," particularly because of the remote community's separation from the outside world. According to Brazilian newspaper Globo, the boy was admitted to the intensive care unit at a hospital in Roraima, Brazil's northernmost state located in the Amazon region, on April 3. He reported shortness of breath, fever, chest pain, and sore throat. According to Globo, the boy first tested negative for the disease but later tested positive. He remains in the ICU. The Yanomami tribe is made up of approximately 38,000 people and is considered to be the largest relatively isolated tribe in South America, with over 9.6 million hectares (2.3 million acres) of land along the Venezuelan border. The tribe has dealt with deadly outbreaks of infectious disease, including measles and flu, in the past when military agencies, miners, and religious missionary groups exposed the tribe to diseases they had no immunity to. According to Globo, respiratory disease is already the leading cause of death among native populations in Brazil. The country's health ministry has created a national crisis committee in order to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 on indigenous people and prevent further spread. One might ask the question: How much contact does this tribe have with the outside world? If none, then one might question the mechanism for transmission of COVID-19. The question arises also: "Is the virus really 'novel' or has it always been with us? If the virus has always been with us, then why has it had a worldwide outbreak now? If remote tribes get this disease, then what is the value of social distancing and isolation? I'm an engineer not a biologist or microbe specialist, so maybe these questions are naïve. Hey, there’s still Antarctica. |
| Posted by:JohnQC |
| #14 An Amazon Runs Through It: "We lived at the junction of great pirana rivers in Roraima, Brazil. Where Indians still appeared out of the wilderness to walk the honky tonks and brothels of Frontera Street." |
| Posted by: JHH 2020-04-11 19:05 |
| #13 first tested negative for the disease but later tested positive Possibly the viral load had not grown enough to show up on the test. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-04-11 17:10 |
| #12 first tested negative for the disease but later tested positive So he was sick with something symptomatically similar and then caught Wuhan Flu in the hospital? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2020-04-11 14:32 |
| #11 Apparently he caught it at school. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2020-04-11 13:08 |
| #10 yikes! them's long toes... |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-04-11 12:17 |
| #9 ^Both Lex. She grew up on the Amazon as the daughter of a high level Brazilian Military officer. Works out 1 hour a day every day, excellent business person, and she can do things physically that I have never seen any other woman do with her toes. You may use your imagination... |
| Posted by: Varmint Splat1454 2020-04-11 11:44 |
| #8 ^ "Amazon" as in, Olympic goddess/stomp on yo' ass, or as in pessoa de origem amazono? |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-04-11 11:34 |
| #7 Raj, my better half is an Amazon mulher from Belem. Green eyes, blonde hair, light tan skin, 7 beautiful Amazon sisters. All in excellent athletic condition and with spicey latin tempers (Their grand father came over from Portugal) if you in need of correction. A real Amazon woman is special. |
| Posted by: Varmint Splat1454 2020-04-11 11:25 |
| #6 Pics of hot Amazon women or GTFO! |
| Posted by: Raj 2020-04-11 10:49 |
| #5 Or the tests are not that accurate. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2020-04-11 10:48 |
| #4 Sounds like he caught it at the hospital. |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2020-04-11 10:29 |
| #3 Damn missionaries... |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2020-04-11 09:32 |
| #2 Eu viaje a Amozonia. The tribes cross paths with modern Brazilians frequently. Want to go to a pristine remote beach? take a boat that carries large number of people up the Amazon to the ocean and dissembarque, load up on a tractor pulled tractor that goes down a trail to a pristine remote beach. The tractor will from time to time go around a tribal native and his water buffalo that is pulling a wagon of items he just traded mangoes or many othrr of the amazing jungle fruits for at the boat landing. Brazilians trade with China who deliver ship loads of 'made in China' to Belem, etc to the very people who love remote beaches. And the hospital staff did not allow the virus to be transmitted at the hospital as Besoeker ignorantly insinuates. I know caretakers in medical fscilities on the Amazon who most have large families of their own and are consumate professional caretakers for theor patients and would not put their patients or families at risk when they return home each day. |
| Posted by: Varmint Splat1454 2020-04-11 09:10 |
| #1 According to Globo, the boy first tested negative for the disease but later tested positive. He remains in the ICU. Tested negative at the time of admission did he ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2020-04-11 08:42 |