Newsflash: yellow fever alert

4 May 2016

People intending to travel to Angola are urged to seek advice from doctors as the country is experiencing a yellow fever outbreak, Netcare Travel Clinics said in a statement.

“It is standard protocol to have the compulsory yellow fever vaccination at least 10 days prior to travelling to any area where the virus is endemic, to ensure that it is effective, and Angola has recently been categorised as a higher risk country for yellow fever,” said Dr Pete Vincent of Netcare Travel Clinics and Medicross Tokai Family Medical and Dental Centre.

Further, the South African Society of Travel Medicine (SASTM), reported that the Ugandan Ministry for Health has now confirmed a yellow fever outbreak in Masaka and Kebisoni in the Rukungiri district of Uganda.

According to Netcare Travel Clinics, the government of Uganda is reportedly in discussions with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to explore ways of rolling out a mass vaccination programme in areas where yellow fever cases have been confirmed. 

Yellow fever has claimed at least 238 lives since December 2015, said Netcare Travel Clinics.