Brazil’s Yellow Fever Outbreak Prompts Warnings For U.S. Physicians, Causes Undue Killing Of Monkeys

NPR: Is Yellow Fever Knocking At Our Door?
“…In a recent commentary for the New England Journal of Medicine, [Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,] and his colleague Dr. Catherine Paules explain the pattern [of mosquito-borne disease outbreaks] seen across Latin America and how the historical information could help us intercept the next epidemic. The waves of epidemics from [dengue, chikungunya, and Zika] started in the 1990s. … ‘Now all of a sudden you start to see this very interesting clustering of yellow fever cases in Brazil,’ says Fauci. … ‘[W]hich means physicians [in the U.S.] have to be aware of it’…” (Doucleff, 4/14).

Washington Post: Brazil’s response to a huge yellow fever outbreak: Kill the monkeys
“A yellow fever outbreak is tearing through Brazil leaving thousands dead in its wake — thousands of monkeys, that is. The epidemic, the worst Brazil has seen in decades, has killed more than 200 people so far. But it’s also threatening to wipe out some of the country’s most endangered primates. Not only are monkeys susceptible to yellow fever, but local residents have begun pre-emptively killing monkeys, incorrectly assuming that they help spread the disease…” (Lopes, 4/15).

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