Four howler monkeys were found dead in the forest on the University of São Paulo (USP) campus in Ribeirão Preto (SP) in the week between Christmas and New Year. The animals were victims of yellow fever, which mobilized health authorities in the region.
According to the city hall, there is no record of the disease in humans and vaccination will be reinforced. Since Thursday (2), the Ribeirão Preto Municipal Health Department has received 20 thousand doses of vaccine through coordination with the state and other municipalities, totaling around 23 thousand doses available.
Epidemiological Surveillance teams began on Friday (3) the immunization of people who live or work on campus and have never received the vaccine. An active search for unvaccinated children will also be carried out – around 4,000 boys and girls.
“The secretariat is contacting all these families so that their children can be vaccinated. There is no need for the population to queue at health centers”, said the Secretary of Health, Mauricio Godinho.
The vaccination schedule provides for a dose of vaccine at 9 months of age and another at 4 years of age. In people over 5 years of age who have not been previously vaccinated, the single dose schedule is used.
“Don’t kill the monkeys”
USP notified the Zoonosis Surveillance Unit so that the monkeys found dead could undergo necropsy. The samples collected were taken to the virology laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine, where the animals were infected with the yellow fever virus.
After confirmation, researcher and infectious diseases professor Benedito Fonseca appealed to the population not to kill the animals. “For now, there is no reason to be alarmed because this virus is only circulating in the forest sector and in these monkeys,” he said. “It is very important that they are not decimated, because they also serve to alert us that the virus is circulating in this location.”
Monkeys do not transmit yellow fever. Despite being hosts of the disease in its wild cycle, it is transmitted only by infected mosquitoes. In forest areas, the virus is transmitted by mosquitoes of the genera Haemagogues and Sabethes and, in urban regions, by Aedes aegypti, the same vector of dengue viruses , zika and chikungunya.
The infectious disease specialist also highlighted the importance of vaccination: “We have a very good, highly effective vaccine that only requires one dose for life. Anyone who has not yet been vaccinated, please get vaccinated. It is the main means of protection against virus infection.”
