Rio de Janeiro - A recent malaria epidemic has killed more than 100 people and infected 80 percent of the inhabitants in Anajas, a town of 18 000 in northern Brazil, news reports said on Wednesday.
"More and more sick people are crowding into the city hall seeking help," Mayor Raimundo Nogueira Filho told the Estado newspaper. "I don't know what to do. The malaria outbreak is out of control."
The town's only hospital is already filled to capacity.
Filho accused para-state health authorities of merely distributing malaria medication and not taking any preventative measures against the illness. The mosquitoes which spread the disease must be combated, the mayor said.
However, a spokesperson for the health authorities said that the problem had economic and social causes. "The town lives from palm products and people need to trek deep into the rainforest, where there is no defence against the mosquitoes," the spokesperson said. - Sapa-DPA
