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Colombia has declared a national health emergency after at least 34 people have died from yellow fever.
Yellow fever is a disease spread to humans by mosquitoes. There is a vaccine that usually protects people for life.
The government is asking everyone to get vaccinated before the Easter holiday. During Easter, many people travel to warmer places where the mosquitoes that carry the disease are more common.
Health Minister Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo said people going to high-risk areas must show proof they’ve had the vaccine.
So far, there have been 74 confirmed cases in this outbreak. The vaccine is free in Colombia, and the minister urged everyone to get it.
This outbreak is much worse than in past years. In 2023, there were only two cases. From 2019 to 2022, there were no cases at all.
Mr. Jaramillo said this outbreak is especially deadly, with nearly half of those infected dying.
Most of the cases are in eastern Tolima province, a region known for coffee farms and scenic views that attract many tourists.
President Gustavo Petro posted on social media that unvaccinated people should not visit high-risk places during Easter, especially the coffee-growing region.
Yellow fever can be hard to spot at first because its symptoms are similar to other illnesses.
The World Health Organization says most people recover from the first phase, which includes fever, muscle pain, headache, chills, nausea, and vomiting.
But around 15% get a second, more dangerous phase. This can include high fever, yellowing of the skin (jaundice), bleeding, and kidney problems.
Of those who reach this severe stage, about half die within 10 to 14 days.
Historically yellow fever has caused massive epidemics in areas like Panama, New Orleans, and the Caribbean coasts and islands, but is much less common in modern times due to vaccination and mosquito eradication programmes.
The first effective yellow fever vaccine was developed in 1937 by Max Theiler, a South African scientist working at the Rockefeller Foundation in the United States.
He used a weakened form of the virus, which became the basis of the vaccine still used today (called the 17D strain). For this work, Theiler won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951—the only Nobel ever awarded for a vaccine.
Sources: BBC, CNN, Hoy.
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