WHO: All of Sao Paulo state at risk for yellow fever

There is no known treatment for yellow fever, and vaccination campaigns are considered crucial to containing outbreaks.

By: AP | Sao Paolo | Published: January 17, 2018 9:10 am

A boy cries as he receives a vaccine against yellow fever at a public health center in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

The World Health Organization announced Tuesday that it now considers all of Sao Paulo state at risk for yellow fever, recommending that all international visitors to the state be vaccinated.

That puts the megacity of Sao Paulo on the list. But Brazil’s Health Ministry said in a statement that it was not changing its own, recently updated map of at-risk areas, which includes only certain parts of the state and city. The ministry said that the WHO’s more-cautious recommendation for foreigners was made in light of the fact that it is impossible to know where visitors might travel once they arrive in Sao Paulo state.

Antonio Nardi, a senior official at the ministry, later told reporters it was the result of an “excess of concern.”