Doctor Luiz José de Sousa announces the release of book about dengue, zika and chikungunya during the 52nd MedTrop

The publication is very useful for physicians and other health professionals, as well as for students seeking knowledge completion in the theme

In 2016 alone, 1,345 million people were affected by dengue in Brazil, 165.9 thousand by zika and 137 thousand by chikungunya. Predictions point to a larger number next year. These three very socially relevant severe pathologies associated to public health are theme to the book Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya – Diagnostic, Treatment and Prevention, released during the 52nd Congress of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine (MedTrop), by Doctor Luiz José de Sousa. The piece is the first Brazilian publication approaching all three diseases.

According to the specialist, the books main edge is clarifying in a simple and didactic manner the main epidemiological, clinical and handling aspects of these three rising important arboviral diseases, besides containing fresh literature about them. The book approaches several clinical cases that took place at the Immuno-Infectious Diseases Reference Center (CRDI), in Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ), clarifying our investigations, practices and most interesting cases, bringing the reader closer to our working reality and experience we acquired for years, he details. The physician highlights the CRDI team effort, who have developed parameters which allowed to achieve more precise data and treatments, proving the possibility of reducing complications and deaths by tropical diseases.

Dr. Luiz José believes the book can improve discussions about the three diseases by presenting their most recent protocols, besides a wide service experience at the CRDI discussed throughout the chapters and represented by successfully handled clinical cases. For him, the piece, beyond an experience exchange, will allow Brazilian and even foreign doctors to learn treatments, symptom differentials and the challenges of daily patient care. The book covers the four dengue outbreaks we faced in the city, with all attention and treatment experience at the CRDI, first special attention and treatment facility for dengue patients in Brazil, and was basis for international articles publications, he adds.

The authors says the books reception, yet so recent, is excellent. The sales are surpassing our expectations and we have received many compliments. The scientific community urged for a publication aiming these three arboviral diseases and finally it is a reality, celebrated while ensuring much has to be studied, but this book has gathered what is most recent in the literature so far. The book, the third about dengue and the first about zika and chikungunya, also brings chapters with researchers from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). The book also brings historical, clinical and epidemiological aspects, diagnostics, vaccines and vector control, besides ambulatory and laboratory level experience of the three diseases, approached along 16 chapters.

Predictions are that from next summer, the number of zika and chikungunya cases will rise. One of the main critics about these diseases is the lack of precise diagnosis. Asked about the time it takes most health professionals to distinguish, Dr. Luiz José emphasizes diagnosing the three diseases is not easy. Centers trained to receive these patients are able to perform this task more easily and this is the point of the book: making clinical handling and diagnosis of these diseases easier, he said while adding that, besides this, researches are advancing for its laboratory diagnosis. Accordingly, it will not take long for health professionals to be able to make this distinction.

Brazilian health system is constantly preparing itself to face these outbreaks; however, much has to be done until we achieve an ideal level. For the doctor, lack of knowledge about these diseases among health professionals from all areas is the greatest problem, as well as early diagnosis, combined to a reference center integration for patient forward according to the severity or complication risk potential. All these measures intended to optimize diagnosis and patient clinical handling, avoiding or early handling complications and trying to reduce at most the number of deaths are our main goal, he said.…