Concern about the Expansion of Yellow Fever Grows after Death in Rio de Janeiro

03/21/2017 - 11h05

The confirmation of two more cases of Wild yellow fever in the State of Rio de Janeiro has generated additional warnings about the threat of a new expansion of the current outbreak and the risk of the re-urbanization of the disease.

The rate of notification of new cases has been falling in recent weeks in all of the other affected States, like Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo - which account for 93% of suspected cases.

A survey of Health Ministry bulletins by the Folha shows a drop off of 86% in new notifications each week between January and March of this year. Now, specialists say that they are concerned about a new increase.

The concern is caused by the large numbers of people who haven't been vaccinated. Like Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro hadn't been considered part of the area under recommendation for yellow fever vaccination.

The municipality where the first cases of transmission within Rio were confirmed, Casimiro de Abreu, wasn't even on the list of cities that had had preventive vaccinations carried out at the beginning of the year due to their localization along the border with Minas Gerais.

Up until now, all of the cases of yellow fever that have been registered this year are of the Wild fever variety, which is transmitted by mosquitos from rural areas (Sabethes and Haemagogus).

Cases of urban yellow fever, linked to the Aedes aegypti mosquito, haven't been registered in Brazil since 1942.

One of the primary authorities on yellow fever in the country, medical Epidemiologist Pedro Tauil, from UnB (University of Brasília) said that the "risk exists" of infected people circulating in urban areas where Aedes mosquitos are present.

But he confirmed that the threat is the same for other regions affected by the outbreak.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

Read the article in the original language