H1N1 ravages Amazon tribe
2009-11-06 06:54
Special Report
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Washington - The H1N1 flu pandemic is spreading quickly among the Yanomani tribe, in a remote corner of the Amazon jungle straddling Brazil and Venezuela, and a medical team is heading there to help, government officials said.
At least seven members of the tribe have died in the last two weeks and 1 000 others are infected with the H1N1 virus, out of an estimated population of 32 000 Yanomani, the non-governmental Survival group said in a statement.
The Venezuelan government did not confirm the infection data provided by the London-based organisation supporting tribal people worldwide.
However, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday said swine flu "has struck harshly an indigenous population" in a southern Amazonas state, adding that the situation was "under control".
"We responded quickly," Chavez said without giving any details on the extent of the infection in the area.
Government officials said the health ministry had sent a medical team to the Yanomani territory, which covers both sides of the Brazil-Venezuela border.
"The situation is critical," Survival director Stephen Corry said in the statement.
"Both governments must take immediate action to halt the epidemic... If they do not, we could once more see hundreds of Yanomami dying of treatable diseases."
"This would be utterly devastating for this isolated tribe, whose population has only just recovered from the epidemics which decimated their population 20 years ago."
Survival said a flu and malaria epidemic introduced by miners in the 1980-90s killed one out of every five Yanomani then living in Brazil.
The H1N1 flu pandemic has so far killed 95 people in Venezuela, according to government data. Venezuela said it has ordered five million doses of the H1N1 vaccine, which it expects will be delivered early next year.
Venezuela has a population of 27 million.
- SAPA