Information

SELVATIC YELLOW FEVER
What to know and what to do 

1. What is Selvatic yellow fever (SYF)?
It is an acute, febrile infectious disease that is transmitted by a virus, and can lead to death in about a week if not treated quickly. The disease is only common in wild animals, such as monkeys, which is the main reservoir for the yellow fever virus that causes the disease.

2. How do you get the disease?
Selvatic Yellow fever is transmitted by the bite of the Haemagogus mosquito that lives in bushes and vegetations at the verge of the rivers. The mosquito bites the sick monkeys, becomes contaminated, and then bites humans.

3. How can the disease be avoided?
The only form to avoid the occurrence of SYF through vaccination against the disease. The vaccine is available all year long at health care facilities for free and should be administered 10 days before travel to risk areas. The vaccine can be administered after six months of age and is valid for ten years.

4. What places constitute risk areas?
Places that have bushes and rivers where the virus and its reservoir occur naturally are identified as risk areas. In Brazil, these areas include all the states of the Northern Midwestern regions and, besides Maranhão and Minas Gerais, the regions southwest of Piauí, west of Bahia, west of Parana, west of Santa Catarina, northwest of Rio Grande do Sul and northwest of São Paulo.

5. What time of year is the disease most commonly transmitted?
Studies have shown that the disease occurs at a higher frequency in the months from January to April. This is the rainy season when the mosquito population increases, allowing a higher circulation of the virus.

6. Is anyone at risk of contracting selvatic yellow fever?
Yes. Anyone - regardless of age or gender - that lives in the endemic areas or that visits endemic areas without having been vaccinated, cab get the disease.

7. How long does it take for the disease to become apparent?
Three to six days after having been bitten by an infected mosquito.

8. What are the symptoms of the disease?
The most common symptoms are: high fever and chills, malaise, vomiting, body aches, yellow-tinged skin and eyes, bleeding, dark ("coffee grind") stools, and a decrease in urination.

9. What should you do if you have symptoms?
Once you identify some of these symptoms, look for a physician in the nearest medical facility and let them know about any travel to high risk areas in the previous 15 days, if you have been vaccinated against yellow fever and if you observed any wild animals dying, especially monkeys, near the places where you visited.

10. How is selvatic yellow fever treated?
There is no specific treatment against the disease. The physician must treat the symptoms, like body and head aches, with pain and fever reducing medication. Salicylates must be avoided (AAS and Aspirin), since their use can prompt the appearance of hemorrhagic manifestations. The physician must be alert to any indications of an aggravation of the clinical condition. Important: Only a physician is capable of diagnosing and correctly treating the disease.

11. What is the difference between Selvatic Yellow Fever (SYF) and Urban Yellow Fever (UYF)?
The difference between these is the vector: in the city the disease is transmitted by Aedes aegypti, the same mosquito that transmits dengue fever. In the jungle, the mosquitoes Haemagogus and Sabethes transmit the disease. Since 1942 Brazil has not reported cases or urban yellow fever.

12. Is selvatic yellow fever contagious?
The disease is not contagious, it is transmitted among animals and humans, but always through the bite of a mosquito infected with the yellow fever virus. There is no person-to-person transmission.

13. Where can I obtain more information regarding yellow fever?
More information about the disease can be obtained in the State and Municipal Health Secretariats all over the country.

14. What is the role of the Ministry of Health and of the SECRETARIAT OH HEALTH SURVEILLANCE in controlling yellow fever?
The Ministry of Health, through the SECRETARIAT OF HEALTH SURVEILLANCE, elaborates norms and coordinates actions of surveillance and control of the disease. It also assists the States and municipalities in the implementation and maintenance of these actions, supervises the activities and provides the selvatic yellow fever vaccine.