UN Agency Issues Yellow Fever Alert For Several Countries, Including Colombia

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has issued an epidemiological alert regarding yellow fever in the Americas due to the recent increase in confirmed human cases in several countries in the region and a change in the geographic distribution of the disease.

This increase has been observed over the last months of 2024 and the first weeks of 2025. In total, 61 cases of yellow fever were confirmed in 2024, with 30 resulting in death. This number exceeds the 58 reported cases of yellow fever, including 28 deaths, between 2022 and 2023 in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. In January of this year, 17 additional cases were reported, with seven deaths.

While in 2024, cases were mainly concentrated in the Amazon region of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, and Peru, in 2025, the disease has begun to spread to areas outside this zone, particularly to the state of São Paulo, Brazil, and the department of Tolima, Colombia. Peru has also reported a fatal case. PAHO warns that other countries could also be affected.

Yellow fever is a serious viral disease that can be fatal, especially in its more severe form. This increase in cases highlights the urgent need to intensify efforts to prevent the spread of the virus, strengthen clinical management (with an emphasis on early detection and treatment of severe cases), and improve epidemiological surveillance in high-risk areas.

PAHO reminds that vaccination remains one of the most effective tools for preventing and controlling yellow fever. In 2024, most of the cases reported were in people who had not been vaccinated. In this regard, PAHO urges countries to continue strengthening their vaccination programs and to take appropriate measures to inform and protect travelers heading to high-risk areas.

Given the changes in the patterns of virus transmission, PAHO stresses the need to maintain active surveillance, particularly in areas near affected zones, to detect any suspected cases early and ensure timely isolation and treatment.

Key recommendations:

• Enhanced surveillance: Rapidly detect any suspected cases, even in areas not traditionally affected.
• Universal vaccination: Ensure that at least 95% of people in high-risk areas are vaccinated.
• Laboratory diagnosis: Conduct virological diagnostics via PCR during the first 7 to 10 days of illness, or ELISA IgM in the convalescent phase, with careful interpretation due to cross-reactivity in areas with other circulating flaviviruses.
• Clinical management: Strengthen early detection and specialized monitoring of severe patients as a key measure to save lives.
• Preparedness for outbreaks: Review and update the national and subnational vaccine inventory to plan a rapid emergency response.

Since 1970, yellow fever has reemerged as a public health threat in the Americas. The disease is endemic in 13 countries and territories in the region, causing outbreaks and deaths. In 2014, the virus spread beyond the Amazon basin. Some attribute this spread to changes in the interaction between monkeys, mosquitoes, and humans.