Yellow Fever

I've been doing tons of work in preparation for my departure for Brazil, the hardest being learning some portuguese, but also anxiously awaiting detailed e-mail instructions with the next steps. Yesterday, I recieved this "pleasant" e-mail:

To all Spring 2008 Brazil students,

I am writing to inform you of the following situation occurring in Brazil (see below). As this does not change any recommendations previously made, I wanted to share this information with you if you are planning on traveling before or after the program to other parts of Brazil. If you are a participant in the Brazil - Amazon program, it is still a requirement for you to have documentation of receiving this vaccination, as outlined in the Health Guidelines. For participants on the program in Salvador or Fortaleza, if you have chosen or plan to have the yellow fever vaccination, please be sure to bring your yellow World Health Organization (WHO) card in order to document the vaccination in order to carry that with you while traveling. For more information about yellow fever, please visit: http://www2.ncid.cdc.gov/travel/yellowfever/

Please note, there is currently a shortage of the vaccine, so I would recommend checking the above website for more information and calling around your local clinics to check on availability. The above website has a clinic locater, where you can find your closest clinic that can provide yellow fever vaccination. Good luck.

Ben
_____________________

YELLOW FEVER - BRAZIL: ALERT
********************************
An International advisory (from Shoreline Travax):
-- Brazil: yellow fever --
According to national health authorities, 2 cases of yellow fever have been reported from Brasilia, Brazil's capital. Both cases were infected outside the capital, but hospitalized in the city. Shoreland continues to recommend vaccination for all persons over 9 months of age for travel to all rural areas of all states, including Iguassu Falls tourist resorts, and for travel to Brasilia and Belo Horizonte. Cities in jungle areas are considered rural, not urban, in nature. Vaccination is not recommended for travel to major coastal cities from Fortaleza to the Uruguay border, including the major tourist/business destinations of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife, and Fortaleza, as well as major cities of the industrial south. Note: entry requirements may apply.

Date: 9 Jan 2008
Source: Newspaper O Globo, Brazil [in Portuguese, trans. & summ. by
Mod.JW, edited].


Brazil will today issue an international alert about yellow fever in the light of the 2nd death of a Brazilian from YF in Brasilia, the capital. Both cases were infected outside the capital, but hospitalized in the city in the acute phase, potentially able to infect the urban vector mosquito, _Aedes aegypti_, which is abundant there.

Yesterday the Brazilian Ministry of Health asked the Ministries of Tourism & of External Relations to advise all its embassies worldwide, and international organizations, about the threat. Diplomats and staff should be vaccinated.

Tourist agencies will be warned, and leaflets distributed at Brazil's airports and bus stations, advising all tourists, international and national, to get vaccinated. The Ministry of Tourism emphasizes that coastal Brazil, the part most visited by tourists, is "practically free" of YF.

[However, it should be remembered that in January 2000, an ecotourist who had spent the New Year holiday in the interior of Goais state was hospitalized with YF on her return to Rio de Janeiro, which was suffering a dengue epidemic at the time. More than 22 000 cases of dengue were recorded in the city of Rio de Janeiro last year (2007), and the epidemic is continuing. Since the mosquito vector of dengue is the same as that of urban YF, if YF patients start to arrive in
Rio hospitals, the potential for spread will be there.

Travelers should be vaccinated at least 10 days before entering Brazil, to allow the vaccine to take full effect. The Brazilian government is to be highly commended on issuing this international alert, in spite of the possible negative impact on its tourist industry. - Mod.JW]

Some more research into this on CDC shows that:

Yellow fever virus, a flavivirus, is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Illness ranges in severity from a self-limited febrile illness to severe hepatitis and hemorrhagic fever. Yellow fever disease is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical findings, laboratory testing, and the possibility of exposure to infected mosquitoes. There is no specific treatment for yellow fever; care is based on symptoms. Steps to prevent yellow fever include use of insect repellent, protective clothing, and vaccination. Yellow fever occurs in tropical regions of Africa and in parts of South America. Yellow fever is a very rare cause of illness in U.S. travelers. The last epidemic of yellow fever in North America occurred in New Orleans in 1905.

Yeah, this trip is going to be full of lots of excitement!