Estudio de un brote epidémico de fiebre amarilla selvática en el pie de monte de La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 1979

Abstract

During 1979 an epidemic of sylvan nellow fever was observed in Colombia, in the lower slopes of the Sierra Nevada the Santa Marta, where the disease had not been registred before. The cases occurred in the vicinity of the cities of Valledupar and Santa Marta, at that time infested with Aedes aegypti. Twenty cases were demonstrated by histopathological examination of the liver or by virus isolation. Thirty six additional cases were clinically diagnosed. In the first group there were 14 fatalities; in the area emergency control measures against A. aegypti and vaccination were carried out. No urban cases of the disease were observed. Cases were infected in narrow galfery forests and in coffee groves, where previous and concurrent mortality in monkeys (Alouatta seniculus), was observed. The entomological survey showed in the region the presence of 3 species of Hoemogogus. H. janthinomys among them. Of 745 captured mosquitoes divided into 192 pools, only one, composed by H. janthinomys was positive for jellow fever virus. The aforementioned epidemic constitutes an example of the power of invasion of yellow fever virus to new rural "habitats" creating at the same time a serious threat to neighboring cities infested with A. aegypti because of the risk of urbanization of the virus. a situation which demands immediate action to abate the mosquitoe and to vaccinate the human population.