The patient-physician and health service-community relationship in times of zika

Brazil deals with a zika virus outbreak since 2015. Severe cases and difficulty in controlling zika’s vector has provoked among the people fear, anxiety, insecurity and even collective neurosis. This research studied possible changes in patient-physician and health service-community relationships during this current epidemic. The content analysis of semistructured interviews with physicians and users of Basic Health Units of the city of Campinas-SP, in Brazil, showed that the topic of zika’s infection did not emerge during prenatal consultations, so there would be no emotional impact on physicians or patients. On the subject of health service-community relationship, the same collective strategies employed in dengue’s control have been used for zika’s outbreak control, not having significant changes in this relationship. The views on how the media has dealt with zika’s outbreak diverged among those interviewed, some of them believed it was relevant and others considered that the media may have overstated the issue.