Yellow Fever Has Become A Looming Threat For Brazilian City-Dwellers

Brazil could be on the precipice of a serious yellow fever outbreak ― even though a vaccine for the disease has existed since the 1930s and is 99 percent effective. Health authorities in the country reported at least 600 laboratory-confirmed yellow fever infections and more than 200 deaths, primarily in the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and São Paulo, between December and April 6. Hundreds of additional cases are still being investigated.  Yellow fever can be extremely serious, according to the Mayo Clinic. Acute symptoms can include fever, headache and dizziness, while more severe symptoms, including jaundice, kidney failure and brain dysfunction, can be life-threatening. And although yellow fever was never completely eradicated from Brazil, the current outbreak far outstrips the few dozen cases the country typically reports in rural and jungle areas each year. The current outbreak is also especially worrying because it’s close to Brazil’s densely populated urban areas, which haven’t seen a yellow fever case since 1942, according to Reuters. Roughly half a century without a major yellow fever outbreak ― and the end of 1950s-era mosquito eradication efforts like DDT ― may have lulled Brazil into a false sense of security. But unlike some other mosquito-transmitted diseases that threaten the Western Hemisphere ― such as dengue, chikungunya and the Zika virus ― there’s a vaccine for yellow fever. ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news