Brazilian ports and airports must display informational materials about the symptoms and preventive measures for mpox. These posters must be placed in international arrivals areas for the duration of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern regarding the disease.
Likewise, airlines must issue an audible warning about measles on board aircraft for the duration of the disease elimination process in Brazil.
On international flights, the message with information about the disease must also be announced in Spanish and English. The disease has been declared a Public Health Event in Brazil.
These measures, determined by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), are not just regulations, but a call to action for all of us. They are part of the agency’s new regulatory instruction, which addresses temporary health measures to be adopted in ports, airports, and by transportation operators, given the epidemiological situation in the country.
The document was approved by Anvisa’s collegiate director last Monday (July 28).
Informational materials and health measures will be adopted for diseases declared as Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (ESPII), Public Health Emergencies of National Concern (ESPIN), and Public Health Events (ESP).
For measles, only dissemination of informational materials is required; there are no recommendations for specific health measures related to travelers or transportation.
In addition to these two diseases, polio is also listed as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, but no health measures or informational materials need to be adopted.
The normative instruction is periodically updated based on epidemiological alerts for national and international public health events. The epidemiological scenario is updated regularly, based on guidelines from the Ministry of Health’s Public Health Event Monitoring Committee (CME), which monitors and assesses public health events, and active Health Emergency Operation Centers (COEs), which coordinate emergency response activities, and technical and regulatory guidance issued by the Ministry of Health.
According to Anvisa, the approval of the regulation is a legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic, when various resolutions requiring testing, face masks, and other measures were necessary to reduce disease transmission at ports and airports.
“Now the Agency is implementing an agile tool that allows these measures to be updated as soon as the Ministry of Health recommends their implementation and their technical relevance for the sector is verified.”
Diseases
The Monkeypox virus causes monkeypox and can spread between people and, occasionally, from the environment to people, through objects and surfaces touched by an infected patient.
Its most common symptom is a rash, similar to blisters or sores, which can last two to four weeks. The current alert for mpox is related to the new strain 1b of the virus, which is more contagious and has a higher mortality rate, circulating in Africa and identified in Brazil in March.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease caused by the paramyxovirus. It is transmitted directly through the air through secretions expelled when coughing, sneezing, talking, or breathing, and can remain in environments for two hours.
The infection can lead to serious complications, such as otitis media, pneumonia, infertility in males, and encephalitis. The current alert was issued following the detection of new measles cases and outbreaks circulating internationally, as well as isolated cases in Brazil, despite the disease’s elimination being certified in the country.
Polio is also caused by a virus that can infect children and adults through direct contact with feces or secretions expelled from the mouths of infected individuals. In severe cases, it can invade the central nervous system and cause paralysis in the lower limbs.
The World Health Organization assesses that there is still a risk of international spread of poliovirus.
Polio and measles vaccines are available through the public health system.
For mpox, in 2023, during the first global emergency, Anvisa authorized the emergency use of the Jynneos vaccine for a specific population.
The development of a national vaccine is a priority for Rede Vírus, a committee of virology experts created to develop diagnostics, treatments, vaccines, and produce content on emerging viruses in Brazil.
Source: Agência Brasil