Colombian government declares health emergency due to increase in yellow fever cases

By Fernando Ramos and Sanika Tank

Colombia’s health ministry declared a nationwide health emergency on Thursday due to the “active circulation” of yellow fever.

Since September 2024, there have been 75 recorded cases of yellow fever and 34 deaths from the illness, according to the Colombian Health Ministry. Nine of the country’s 32 departments have reported at least one case of yellow fever. Most were detected in rural areas of the Tolima and Meta departments, the Amazon basin, and the Magdalena River region.

A man is vaccinated during a campaign of vaccination against yellow fever at the transport terminal, after the Colombian government declared a health emergency due to the increase in infections, in Bogota, April 17.

Cases have also been reported in areas where the virus has not been historically located, such as the coffee-growing Caldas region, according to the president’s office.

Some regions were already under alert before it was extended nationwide due to the expected surge in travel during Easter weekend. Travel to some zones with a critical virus presence will also be restricted under the health emergency.

Yellow fever is a disease that is transmitted to humans by the bites of infected mosquitoes, primarily in tropical, low-elevation regions.

Many people do not experience symptoms from the disease, while others experience fever, muscle pain, headache, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting, according to the WHO. In most cases, symptoms disappear after three to four days. However, some patients enter a second phase of illness in which they develop jaundice and abdominal pain, among other symptoms. Half the patients who enter this phase die within seven to 10 days, according to the WHO.

There is no specific anti-viral drug treatment for yellow fever; the WHO advises that patients rest, stay hydrated, and seek medical attention as needed.

The office of President Gustavo Petro urged Colombians to receive the single-dose vaccine, which is free and can be administered to anyone older than nine months.

Medical teams would be deployed to administer vaccines in the affected areas, the office announced. “In two months, the entire Colombian population must be vaccinated against yellow fever,” Petro said on X. “We must do this, and our health system must guarantee it.”

Petro added that he would declare an economic emergency due to the situation. Petro’s office said that the Ministry of Health and the National Health Institute have deployed more than 20 immediate response teams to investigate the spread of the disease.

“We have already asked each territorial entity to have a hospital to which people suffering from the disease can go, so that we can exercise clear and definitive control over them from there,” Health Minister Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo stated to local media.

Some opposing political figures argue that the government’s response to the disease comes too late.

“It is unacceptable for the government to declare a health and economic emergency for yellow fever when the crisis started six months ago,” said Senator Paloma Valencia from the Democratic Center party. “Decisions should have been made a long time ago to prevent deaths.”

Petro will hold a broadcast cabinet meeting on emergency measures to prevent the spread of the virus and release a new report on the progress of the disease on Monday.
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Credit: CNN