Nationwide Vaccination for Yellow Fever in Brazil: Health Minister Ricardo Barros

Brazilian Health Minister Ricardo Barros has proposed to vaccinate the entire country against yellow fever after the disease emerged in new areas.

The recommendation will now be discussed with international organisations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Yellow Fever | Acute Viral Hemorrhagic Fever - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment
Yellow fever is a hemorrhagic fever that is transmitted by infected mosquitoes and it can lead to liver failure and death.

‘Vaccination efforts began in Brazil to immunize 19.7 million people against yellow fever.’

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At the start of February, vaccination efforts began in states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, seeking to immunize 19.7 million people against yellow fever, for which cases have been rising since last year, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Barros, if the government approves the idea, separate programs will take place in each state of the country.

Barros added that the vaccination campaign should be rolled out gradually, according to the capacity of each state.

Safe and Effective Vaccine Against Yellow Fever
Scientists wanted to study the efficacy of inactivated cell culture vaccine against yellow fever.

Certain northeastern and southern regions of the country have not seen campaigns so far, as there have been no outbreaks of yellow fever there.

Thirty-four million people need to be vaccinated there, with 23 million in the northeast and 11 million in the south of the country.

Zika Fever - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention
Zika virus is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes which causes mild fever with maculopapular rash. No treatment or vaccine is currently available.

A plant belonging to Libbs Farmaceutica in Sao Paulo is currently about to begin production of 4 million doses of the vaccine a month.

From July 1, 2017 to February 20, 2018, Brazil has confirmed 545 cases of yellow fever, with 164 deaths. A further 1,773 suspected cases have been noted, with 685 having been eliminated and 422 still under investigation.

About Mosquito Diseases
Mosquito-borne diseases, like malaria, filaria, dengue, etc are common in places conducive of mosquito breeding. Swamps, ponds and stagnated drainage provide optimal breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Source-IANS