Lito Sousa, Aviation Influencer, Dies at 59

Overview

• Family members and the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein confirmed on Thursday that Joselito 'Lito' Sousa died in São Paulo at age 59 from complications of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
• The family pursued international experimental options and obtained an exceptional Anvisa authorization to import ALN-6457, a drug still in preclinical testing that was flown to São Paulo and administered on a compassionate-use basis.
• As his neurological condition worsened, care moved between hospital treatment and home palliative care, with his wife Mila Seidl using social media to update followers and to explain the logistics of the emergency drug shipment.
• Lito built a decades-long aviation career as a mechanic and pilot and gained millions of followers through his Aviões e Músicas channel for explaining technical aviation topics in plain language.
• The case underscored the speed and severity of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, highlighted Brazil’s compassionate-use and regulatory hurdles for investigational drugs, and left his wife Mila and seven-year-old son Malone as his closest survivors.