Febre amarela e vacinação

Abstract

It seems to be the opinion of the consensus that yellow fever represents a serious threat to the population for our country. That is what may be supposed from the far-reaching repercussions caused, as much among specialists as among the lay population, on the occasion of the publication, in the recent past, of the news which reported the presence of the mosquito Aedes aegypti in various parts of the Brazil territory. The lay news referred to this mosquito in such a way as simply to confuse it with the infection itself. Even though there was no urban case, the origin of which could be imputed to the action of that vector, there can be no doubt that the possibility always exists. This is so because it is impossible to ignore the fact of the existence of the yellow fever Flavivirus in Brazil, even though, until now, limited to the forest environment. In view of this the occurrence of human cases in urban zones infected by the Aedes aegypti, despite its forest origin, came to be considered a real risk, in view of the outbreaks possibility in the urban environment. The public services, both federal and state, parallel to the combat against the urban vector, undertook a wide-reaching campaign of vaccination in those areas considered to be at risk, that is, those adjacent to the great forest regions of northern and central Brazil, susceptible to receiving and harboring the cases which should arrive with the viral agent in the circulating blood.