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| Brazil Faces Yellow Fever Scare |
| Disease kills 5 people in 15 days |
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Ana Maria Brambilla (brambilla)  |
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Published 2008-01-18 09:44 (KST) |
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Many times each day, TV programs show the Brazilian fight against yellow fever (or febre amarela, in Portuguese), an infectious tropical disease. Prior to this outbreak, there hadn't been a case registered in an urban area since 1942. Last month, the deaths of 80 monkeys in Goias state, believed to have been caused by yellow fever, woke up sanitary authorities to an epidemic danger. In just the 15 first days of 2008, five people have died of it (the same number of deaths registered during all of last year). All the victims had recently been to Goias, in countryside cities like Rubiataba, Caldas Novas, Pirenopolis and the main city, Goiania. Other suspect death cases have been studied by the health secretaries of each state.
A 42-year-old woman hospitalized for 10 days in Sao Paulo was released this Wednesday. Exams showed she had yellow fever. After these confirmations, Brazilian Health Ministry will send 2.2 million doses of vaccine in the coming days to the states of Goias, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Distrito Federal. To visit the National Park in Brasilia, it's necessary to present a vaccination card with a register against yellow fever from between 10 days and 10 years ago.
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| Jorge Luiz Fernandez, a citizen from Goias, said this wave of yellow fever shouldn't be considered an epidemic. "Epidemic is something specific just in a region. The five victims got sickness in different cities of Goias. It means the sickness is diffused." In his state, everybody is getting vaccinated. He added: "I think all the country must adhere to prevention."
Despite all these cases, Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao affirmed that there wasn't a risk of epidemic in Brazil. Last Sunday, he made a proclamation on all open TV channels: "I'm here to keep the Brazilian people calm about a subject that has concerned us all in the last [few] days: fear of a yellow fever epidemic in this country. There isn't a risk of epidemic," he guaranteed.
Brazilians are divided. In forums, commentaries and blogs, the discussion has become a political fight. Many are saying the trouble is with the media. The position adopted by Health Ministry, that this isn't an epidemic, has been cited as a ruse to hide incompetence in health public administration.
Whether a serious concern or not, many people are looking for vaccines. On Saturday, more than a thousand people were vaccinated at Congonhas Airport, in Sao Paulo. The general recommendation is for people who live or will travel to risk areas to get vaccinated, but journalist Rodrigo Borges mentioned in his blog a TV report of a woman who said, "I don't know what it is exactly, but I have come here to be vaccinated."
According to the Health Ministry, the risk areas include northern and middle-western Brazil as well as parts of the northwest, southwest and south. No region is completely free of risk. Still, the government says that people in urban areas don't need the vaccine.
Yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes, which also transmit another very common disease in Brazil: dengue, or aedes aegypti. But unlike dengue, cases of yellow fever had been in decline. In 2000, 42 people died from yellow fever. This number went down to 22 in 2002 and to 5 last year.
The Health Ministry informs on its Web page that the chance of dying from a mosquito bite can alternate from 10 percent to 100 percent. During the last 10 years, 46 percent of those who contracted disease died.
Blood borne yellow fever provokes fatigue, headaches, muscular pain (especially in the abdomen), vomiting, diarrhea and high fever. When the fever subsides, other symptoms such as convulsions, delirium and internal hemorrhaging can appear, causing death. In other cases, yellow fever provokes a serious kind of hepatitis, which gives the eyes a yellowish cast -- hence, the name "yellow fever." There isn't a medicine to cure this sickness. Hospitals treat those infected with hydration, pills against fever and, in serious cases, blood transfusions.
It's important to say that yellow fever is not contagious human to human. This disease appears in Latin America and South Africa.
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| Ana Brambilla is Brazilian journalist, citizen reporter and blogger. |
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©2008 OhmyNews
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