Yellow Fever Puts São Paulo State on Standby

11/11/2016 - 11h24

Cities in the countryside of São Paulo have decided to anticipate baby vaccinations, attract people who have been avoiding immunization and adopt safety precautions to keep yellow fever from spreading after it caused the deaths of several monkeys in two separate regions in the state.

In the São José do Rio Preto region alone, four monkeys have already been confirmed dead due to the disease - even though two cases have required additional testing - and one man died of wild yellow fever.

After a marmoset died of the disease in a public square in Ribeirão Preto, the mayoralty took action enforcing vaccination measures with mobile health clinics that open on weekends in an attempt to attract an estimated 100,000 people who have not gotten their shots yet.

In slightly over two weeks only 4,700 people got their shots. Even though the death toll is high enough to warrant a state of alarm, it can still get higher.

Four other animals are being tested in the Rio Preto region and the number of sightings of monkey corpses and bone piles this year has already gone over 40. There are also cases in Ribeirão that are under review.

The state's Department of Health released a statement saying that these are the only two regions in São Paulo that are dealing with the virus.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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	Mastrangelo Reino/Folhapress
	In slightly over two weeks only 4,700 people got their shots