Uruguay's Public Health Ministry recommended Monday yellow fever vaccinations for all those who plan to travel to Paraguay, and to some jungle areas of Brazil.

 

The ministry said in a statement that it was waiting for more information from the Paraguayan authorities and Pan-American Health Organization officials about the national health emergency in Paraguay sparked by the disease.

 

The high risk areas of Brazil include the most heavily wooded parts of the states of Acre, Amapa, Amazonas, Goias, Maranhao, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Para, Rondonia, Roraima, Tocantins and Minas Gerais.

 

Also mentioned are towns in the south of Piaui state, in the west and south of Bahia, the north of Espiritu Santo, the northeast of Sao Paulo and the west of the states of Parana, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

 

However, the ministry said that coastal cities are not high risk areas, naming Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador, Recife and Fortaleza specifically.

 

"The situation discussed must be considered in the epidemiological context of Brazil's yellow fever virus presence, which has not registered any urban cases since 1942," the statement said. Since then, in Brazil, the virus has only spread in rural areas or rainforest.

 

Paraguayan media have reported six deaths in recent days due to yellow fever. But there is yet to be official confirmation of the causes of the deaths.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2008)