MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

President Rousseff makes public her medical report to quell media disclosures

The Brazilian president was treated for lymphoma in 2009: “no evidence of immunological deficiencies”

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, following recovery from the bronchial pneumonia she was diagnosed in late April, currently enjoys good health, the president’s doctors said in a report released at her request.

The report was initially sent to the weekly magazine Epoca, which in its issue that began circulating on Saturday reported that the 63-year-old leader’s state of health “still demands care” and mentioned several problems that allegedly are still afflicting her.

“On May 21, the president had a chest tomography check-up that showed complete recovery from the pneumonia detected the previous month. From the medical point of view, at this time the president is in an excellent state of health,” the report by doctors at Sao Paulo’s Syrian Lebanese Hospital said.

The report was prepared by the physicians attending Rousseff at the request of the Office of the President and sent to the administration, which released it to Epoca to clear up some doubts the publication had, hospital spokesperson said.

The document, posted Saturday on some Web sites, reviews all the health problems for which Rousseff has been treated in that hospital since early 2009, when she was a presidential candidate, and it says that currently there is no evidence of after effects from the lymphatic cancer for which she was treated at the same Sao Paulo hospital.

“President Dilma remains in ...complete remission process from the lymphoma. There is no evidence of immunological deficiencies associated (or not) to the treatment for lymphoma undertaken in 2009,” the report said.

The Brazilian president’s most recent health problems, among them the A type flu for which she was treated in late 2010, an oedema in the cervical region and the pneumonia she suffered this year, are ‘linked to immune system problems caused by the cancer treatment’, Epoca reported.

As a consequence of the pneumonia, which was diagnosed on her return from an official visit to China, Rousseff postponed a trip to Paraguay, cancelled several other appointments, scaled back her agenda and opted to work from Alvorada Palace, the president’s official residence, and not from Planalto Palace, the seat of government.

Some press reports have raised questions about President Rousseff’s health condition and have said that her ailments are more serious than has been reported so far.

Epoca magazine reported that the president, at one point, was taking 28 medications each day during the time she was being treated for the pneumonia, among them vitamin supplements, weight reduction remedies and even a capsule of shark cartilage, which is thought to have anti-cancer powers.

Rousseff, 63, suffers from Type 2 diabetes, hormone problems and an autoimmune disease known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, according to the report published by Epoca magazine.