The Directorate-General for Health (DGS) recommends that all people travelling to Brazil get vaccinated against yellow fever. The alert published 23rd January 2018 on the DGS website, comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the increase in the number of cases, particularly in the state of São Paulo, together with those of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and federal district (Brasilia).
Between July 1, 2017 and January 14, 2018, 35 confirmed cases were reported, including 20 deaths, according to the DGS statement; another 145 are under investigation.
Since 2016, Brazil has been experiencing yellow fever outbreaks in some states. The last to be included in the list of concern of the authorities was São Paulo, where few Portuguese travel in tourism, “is the business capital, but tourism is not expressive,” according to Nuno Mateus, vice president of the Portuguese Association of Agencies Travel and Tourism (APAVT). However, Brazil “is a destination that is recovering, was the destination with the highest demand at the end of the year,” he adds.
However, Brazilian authorities have promoted mass vaccinations in the states with cases of yellow fever. In São Paulo state, since January 2017, at least 36 people have died as a result of the outbreak, local health authorities reported in the weekly bulletin from the State Department of Health. It is the most populous state in Brazil with 45 million inhabitants. In total, 81 cases of contamination with the disease were detected, compared to 40 registered seven days before.
The most affected city of all, Mairiporã, with 14 deaths, is located at the gates of the state capital, a megalopolis where around 20 million people circulate every day, which increased the risk