Yellow fever - French Guyana: RFI

International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Source: Forbes.com [edited]
< http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/09/12/ap3012266.html>


[An athletic] team that had been training in Martinique was forced to
fly through French Guyana on Sunday [10 Sep 2006] because its
scheduled flight to Sao Paulo was canceled. But due to a yellow fever
outbreak in French Guyana and the Lithuanian team not being
inoculated against the disease, the players were refused entry into Brazil.

Brazil requires travelers coming from yellow fever (YF) endemic
countries to have been vaccinated against that disease. The report
states that there was a YF outbreak going on in French Guyana. I was
unable to find any reports on WHO websites indicating that there was
a YF outbreak going on there. ProMED requests information about any
current YF activity (human or other primate cases; YF virus
isolations from mosquitoes) in French Guyana or surrounding
countries. It is curious that this report came from a sports
publication and not from public health authorities in French Guyana
or Brazil. Perhaps the team's refused entry into Brazil was because
French Guyana is within the YF virus endemic zone and not because
there is current evidence of YF virus activity there.