Brazil on high alert as yellow fever threatens major cities

Brazil on high alert as yellow fever threatens major cities

Health ministry ramps up vaccination campaign but cautions against ‘disinformation’, as disease spreads to areas where it is not normally found

Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro
Thursday 2 February 2017 10.35 EST

Brazil has ramped up an emergency yellow fever vaccination campaign as the worst outbreak in decades spreads towards major population centres, killing dozens of people and decimating wild monkey populations.

The uptick comes exactly a year after the Zika virus – another mosquito-borne disease – was declared a global health emergency, and as during the previous epidemic Brazilian authorities are struggling to calibrate an appropriate response.

Because there is a vaccine, yellow fever should, in theory, not cause as much of a panic but global vaccine stocks are dwindling, and the disease is far more deadly than Zika.

Of the 107 confirmed cases in the state of Minas Gerais, 40 ended in death. Three patients have also died in São Paulo state and one in Espírito Santo.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/02/brazil-yellow-fever-outbreak-vaccination-espirito-santo