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 Roughly 5,000 children aged nine or younger were treated each month
in May and June in 36 areas within Brazil's so-called "arc of
deforestation," the area partially encircling the Amazon where
destruction of the forest is the highest, according to a study by
the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a public health research institute.
That is double the monthly average for the past 10 years, with the
study linking the rise to the forest fires.
The study only examined cases for May and June, the latest data
available, when the number of fires were slightly higher than the
previous year. But that period is well before the surge in August
when fires in the Amazon nearly tripled compared to the same period
a year ago.
The number of forest fires in the Amazon for the year had surged to
their highest point since 2010 by August, drawing global outcry that
Brazil was not doing enough to protect the world's largest tropical
rainforest.
Environmentalists and researchers say that farmers and others
destroying the forest were purposefully setting the fires. Brazil's
government sent in the military to fight the fires and launched an
investigation into the causes.
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Cristovao Barcelos, one of the researchers who wrote the study, said
it stands to reason that with the increase of fires starting from
July that the number of cases could also show an increase.
"There's a sequence that starts with deforestation, then comes fires
and breathing problems," Barcelos said.
In areas recording more fires than usual, a child is 36% more likely
to develop respiratory problems, the study said. Barcelos added that
2% of the children who sought treatment later died.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier and Jake Spring; Editing by
Marguerita Choy)
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