Camila Mota

Things have changed.

So I think it's also part of the challenge, right?

We have to be even more skeptical than we are normally.

That's a good question.

It's usually, as you said, the attention span is really short.

And with the Zika virus epidemic, it was actually really interesting because the world was really watching Brazil at that time because Brazil was on the run up to the Olympics, right?

The Rio Olympic Games happened in 2016 and the outbreak happened in 2015 here in Brazil.

So

Everyone was watching.

And then Brazil declared a national health emergency.

Then the World Health Organization, right, declared a state of attention because the disease was spreading further away from Brazil in dozens of countries.

And the thing which is really interesting is

At first, authorities thought that the Zika virus was a benign disease because you'd get a rash and then you had fever and it wouldn't be that bad.

But then doctors in Brazil started to realize that a lot of babies were being born with microcephaly.

Then they thought there might be something wrong.

And the images were so strong, you know, of kids with the tiny heads and everything and the suffering of the family.

So everyone was watching Brazil.

2,000 babies were born with microcephaly at that time with congenital Zika infection.

So, but then in 2017, cases dropped sharply, probably because of the development of herd immunity.

And the world, you know, there's so much going on in the world.