Measles alert issued in São Paulo, Brazil
Measles alert issued in São Paulo, Brazil
The São Paulo State Health Department issued an epidemiological alert on Tuesday regarding measles vaccination in the state. The warning from the agency's Epidemiological Surveillance Center (CVE) was published after the city government confirmed that two cases of the disease had been registered in October.
The patients are a 37-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman who recently traveled abroad. According to the capital's Municipal Health Department, both are residents of the Cidade Ademar administrative district, in the southern zone, with a history of travel to Europe. Both are doing well and did not require hospitalization. There are no secondary cases related to these two imported cases.
The country is close to regaining its disease-free status, which comes after more than two years without recording any locally transmitted cases. The last indigenous case of measles (transmitted in the country) was two years ago, in Amapá.
According to the ministry, the detection of the virus in the state alerts the population about the risk of local transmission and dissemination. "Returning travelers should remain alert to the appearance of symptoms within 21 days. If you have a fever and redness on your skin, avoid contact with other people until you are evaluated by a health professional," informs the director of CVE, Tatiana Lang, in a note from the ministry.
Measles is a highly transmissible viral disease that can be serious and even fatal. It is transmitted through coughing, talking, sneezing or spraying droplets of saliva from a sick person.
The main symptoms of measles are red spots on the body and a high fever (over 38.5°C) accompanied by one or more of the following symptoms: dry cough; eye irritation (conjunctivitis); runny or blocked nose and a rash.
Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent infection.
In 2024, between epidemiological week (EW) 1 and EW 40, in the Americas Region, there have been 14,373 suspected measles cases, of which 376 cases have been confirmed in Argentina (n= 11), the Plurinational State of Bolivia (n= 3), Brazil (n= 2), Canada (n= 82), the United States of America (n= 267), the Turks and Caicos Islands (n= 2), Mexico (n= 7), and Peru (n= 2).
