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Ayacucho, Peru: Teenage girl dies of yellow fever

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  • Ayacucho, Peru: Teenage girl dies of yellow fever

    ProMED is the largest publicly-available surveillance system conducting global reporting of infectious diseases outbreaks. Subscribe today.


    Published Date: 2012-08-01 20:06:09
    Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Yellow fever - South America (05): Peru (AY)
    Archive Number: 20120801.1225038

    YELLOW FEVER - SOUTH AMERICA (05): PERU (AYACUCHO)
    **************************************************
    A ProMED-mail post
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    Date: Tue 31 Jul 2012
    Source: Correo [in Spanish, trans. Mod.TY, edited]



    The terrible yellow fever has taken the life of a pregnant adolescent girl, approximately 16 years old, in the Union Mantaro community, Canayre district, Huanta province, in the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valley (VRAEM) [Ayacucho region], stated the Coordinator of Strategy for Vector-borne Diseases of the Office of the Director of Regional Health (DIRESA), Gaudencio Arone.

    "VRAEM is considered a high risk area for the presence of yellow fever. People become infected due to carelessness or unawareness, so it is important that people who frequent this area get vaccinated 10 days before traveling there. The immunization is free in all health establishments," said the official.

    So far this year [2012], 2 cases are registered due to adverse reactions to yellow fever vaccine. The individuals are a young man from the Nueva Jerusalen community in the Santa Rosa district and a 35-year-old woman from Palmapampa. According to reports from DIRESA, both patients developed symptoms of the disease and are currently in stable condition.

    --
    Communicated by:
    ProMED-mail from HealthMap Alerts
    <promed@promedmail.org>

    [There is no indication that the girl had been vaccinated against yellow fever (YF) previously, but presumably she had not been. This is indeed unfortunate. This area is endemic for sylvatic YF virus, and sporadic YF cases can be expected in unvaccinated people, particularly those working or traveling in the forest. There was a previous fatal case of YF virus infection in the general area reported in March 2012 (see ProMED-mail archive no. 20120308.1064957). The report of 2 adverse YF vaccine reactions is of concern. Adverse reactions are normally quite rare.

    One hopes that these cases do not discourage the general populace from being vaccinated, as the risks of natural infection are greater than those of receiving the vaccine. There is no indication in this report that the DIRESA plans a vaccination campaign in the area where the girl lived.

    A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map showing the location of Huanta province can be accessed at http://healthmap.org/r/1qzr. - Mod.TY]
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