The first two deaths from waterborne bacterial disease were reported in southern Brazil, where floodwaters were slowly receding, and health authorities warned additional fatalities were likely.

Rio Grande do Sul state’s health secretariat confirmed the death of a 33-year-old man due to leptospirosis on Wednesday. On Monday, authorities registered that a 67-year-old man had died from the same infectious disease. Since the beginning of May, 29 cases of the waterborne disease have been confirmed in the state.

WATER RATIONING ORDERED AS SEVERE FLOODING DEVASTATES SOUTHERN BRAZIL

The flooding over about a two-week period killed at least 161 people, with 82 still missing, state authorities said Wednesday. More than 600,000 people were forced from their homes, including tens of thousands who remain in shelters, they said.

Health experts had previously forecast a surge in infectious diseases including leptospirosis and hepatitis B within a couple weeks of the floods, as sewage mixed into the floodwaters.

“There are those who die during the flood and there is the aftermath of the flood,” said Paulo Saldiva, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo medical school who researches the impacts of climate change in health. “The lack of potable water itself will mean that people will start using water from reservoirs that is not of good quality.”

The unprecedented disaster struck more than 80% of the state’s municipalities and damaged critical infrastructure. Over 3,000 health establishments — hospitals, pharmacies, health centers, and private clinics — were affected, according to a report from the federal government’s health research institute Fiocruz released Tuesday.

“The outbreak of leptospirosis cases was somewhat expected due to the number of people exposed to the water, as well as other diseases,” said Carlos Machado, a public health and environmental expert who Fiocruz appointed to track the flood’s impact. “We have never seen in Brazil a disaster of this size and with such a large exposed population.”

Machado said that even though infrastructure, basic control services and health services have been disrupted, the local health department is working to offer prophylaxis to infectious diseases and guidance to people returning home on how to reduce the exposure risks.

Interruption of health services can also have a lasting impact on patients treating chronic diseases, as treatment and care for chronic patients are discontinued, Machado said. People also often leave home during climate disasters without their prescriptions or identification.

“The health department is working hard to guarantee medication to patients with chronic diseases,” he said.

Three people connected to Italian businesses allegedly made bogus claims more than €375,000 in EU agricultural funds between 2020 and 2023, of which €65,000 has already been drawn from Italy’s payment agency.

The 368 hectares of farmland they claimed to own in order to receive the subsidies were not actually theirs, however, according to the authorities, belonging instead to the naval air station of Sigonella, for which the three suspects used to simply cut the grass.

“That is why they were not allowed to use it for agricultural activities, but only to carry out the grass mowing service,” said a press officer at the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) which requested the seizure issued by the judge for preliminary investigations of the Court of Catania today (22 May).

The suspects are two brothers and another partner who took an active part in the alleged scam at a later stage. The brothers are familiar with farming, however, as one of the two actually owns an agriculture business while the other was employed by Italy’s Agricultural Assistance Centre.

This is the third large case involving freezing orders requested by EPPO – which investigates, prosecutes, and brings to judgment perpetrators of criminal offences harming the EU budget – involving Italy this year, leading to more than €3.7m assets being frozen in the past three months.

In 2023, a third of the open investigations related to fraud in the EU farming budget involved Italy, according to EPPO figures.

For Andrea Venegoni, European prosecutor for Italy, there are many reasons for the large number of agricultural fraud investigations in the country.

“First of all, there are many rural areas in Italy where EU funds are distributed to promote agriculture and rural development,” he told Euronews.

“It is also natural that where there is money, there is a potential for fraud. Hence, criminal organisations target EU funding programmes,” he added.

The prosecutor also highlighted the “extraordinary investigative skills” of the Italian financial and judicial police leading to fraud detection, combined with the activity of the European delegated prosecutors who worked effectively with the law enforcement agencies.

Fraud is not within the remit of the Commission’s action as the EU executive can only address administrative errors that may occur and correct the spending with audits – while the EU anti-fraud office (OLAF) is the body responsible for dealing with fraud cases, which may then be prosecuted by EPPO.

“The Commission has zero tolerance for fraud. We trust EPPO, and OLAF, to always investigate, follow up and prosecute fraud cases,” Commission spokesperson Olof Gill told Euronews.

“Since the assets of the alleged perpetrators have been seized with a judicial order, the EU financial interest is fully protected,” he added.

The Commission will be following developments of the case closely to see if the alleged crimes highlight weaknesses in the administrative control systems, the spokesperson continued.