Rio de Janeiro’s mayor has just made a worrying announcement. This coming summer Rio is to face its worse dengue fever epidemic in history. The conclusion was reached through the comparison of current and old data. So far this year, and long before the summer months when most cases are recorded, Rio has seen 160,000 cases of dengue fever with 121 deaths.

An informed traveler is the best possible traveler and for that reason we want to refer you once again to our blog post 10 facts about dengue fever in Brazil. It was written with the help of a medical specialist on the disease and it contains information on dengue fever.

Thinking of cancelling your trip to Rio because of the upcoming dengue fever epidemic? We don’t feel you should necessarily do that. Get the information and understand the risks associated to dengue fever before you take such decision.

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Local newspaper Folha de São Paulo published recently on its English-language edition a short feature on the quality of air in São Paulo: Air in São Paulo is unfit during 70% of the year. Essential reading for anyone suffering from any breathing disorder.

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Few of those interested in Brazil will be unaware of the massive tragedy hitting regions of the state of Rio de Janeiro: Brazil floods: More than 500 dead.

Here’s our straightforward travel advice:

• if you were planning on visiting the affected area, namely the cities of Nova Friburgo, Petrópolis or Teresópolis you are adviced to cancel your trip.
• if you were planning on visiting the coastal region of Rio de Janeiro (Paraty, Ilha Grande, the city of Rio de Janeiro, Arraial do Cabo, Cabo Frio, Búzios) there is no need for you to change your travel arrangements. You might catch some rain, but that is to be expected: summertime in the south east of Brazil is the rainy season.

Rimowa luggage can help you travel Brazil easier and lighter.

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We’ve always maintained that nothing could be more departed from sustainable tourism than exploring a natural paradise such as Fernando de Noronha in a buggy. The authorities have identified carbon emissions from the fleet of ancient buggies in the island as one of the main threats to the environmental balance of the archipelago.

This blog post wants to highlight another worrying aspect of buggies in Noronha: they are a serious threat to your personal health. Two accidents involving buggies in less that one week have cost the lifes of two people in the island (Acidente com buggy em Fernando de Noronha mata uma pessoa, Turista de São Paulo morre ao capotar com buggy em Fernando de Noronha).

On a buggy your body is far more exposed to serious damage than in any other kind of vehicle. On top of that, driving a buggy in Noronha is a high-risk activity due to:

• the fact that buggies are hired without a driver. Unless you are an experienced buggy driver you will have in front of you a beast that is driven quite differently from the vehicle you’re used to.
• the existence of accident-prone steep dirt tracks and a narrow road with speeding vehicles.
• most buggies rented to tourists in Noronha are in a precarious state of maintenance. We’ve heard plenty of stories of tourists who had mechanical problems with the buggies they hired.

If you are renting a buggy while in Noronha, watch out for all of this.
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One outstanding feature of winter in the southeast and southern regions of Brazil is the presence of thick morning fog. Between June and September the airports of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are often forced to halt their operations due to heavy fog. The international airport of Guarulhos in São Paulo (also known as Cumbica) was built on an area that in the tupi-guarani language means “dense fog”. No wonder the airport is often a victim of the phenomenon. When an airport is closed flights are diverted to other cities. Brazilian airports are not equipped with advanced instrument landing systems allowing pilots to land with no visibility.

Unfortunately for passengers arriving from Europe, the time of the arrival of the majority of planes from the northern hemisphere coincides with the formation of fog. Our advice is, if you are arriving in the southern states of Brazil early in the morning during winter (in the southern hemisphere) make sure you leave plenty of time if you are planning on catching a connecting flight right away.

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On 10 facts about dengue fever in Brazil, our main entry devoted to dengue fever on this blog, we explained how the dengue epidemic coincides with the rainy season. What with the rainy season well under way, dengue is back to the headlines: Risco de dengue deixa em estado de alerta 17 capitais, diz ministério. Alert on 17 capitals due to the risk of dengue fever. Among the capitals mentioned there are plenty of important tourist destinations such as Aracaju, Belém, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Maceió, Manaus, Natal, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador de Bahía, São Luís, Recife or Vitória.

Our advice:

1. Do not panic. Dengue fever is endemic. It appears every year in most of the country.
2. Be informed. Read 10 facts about dengue fever in Brazil to know more about the disease and to learn how to prevent becoming a victim of dengue fever.
3. When you reach your destination, seek up-to-date information locally. There isn’t a single online source with up-to-date information on dengue fever on all the destinations mentioned above.

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RELATED POSTS:
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Most of you will be aware of the tragedy in Ilha Grande that resulted in the loss of 31 lifes.

The situation

The situation on the island has become a hot topic among many travelers who were heading to Ilha Grande on the coming weeks and months. Reliable information is scarce and hard to come by. So far the best resource I have found is the following page. It is updated on a daily basis. As it is in Portuguese I am going to translate and summarize here the main points covered there:

• All is normal in the Vila do Abraão, the main village on the island. There have been some sporadic power cuts but they are a common occurrence during the high season.
• All is normal with the boats sailing to the Vila do Abraão. Sailing schedules have not been affected.
• There are currently no diversions on the roads leading to Angra dos Reis.
• The beaches of Araçatiba, Matariz, Praia Vermelha, Provetá and Sítio do Forte, on the continent side of the island, have had no electricity for nearly a week. Phone lines are not working either (only cellphones are in operation). The landslide at Enseada do Bananal destroyed the power lines leading to the beaches I’ve just mentioned.
• Enseada do Bananal is off the tourist circuit for the time being.

I will be updating this information as new facts emerge.

My advice

Unless you are heading to Bananal or Araçatiba and the other beaches mentioned above, there is no particular reason to cancel or postpone your trip to Ilha Grande. Vila do Abraão is perfectly ok and you will be able to do all the treks and sails around the island as if nothing had happened.

If you are heading to Araçatiba, get in touch with your pousada to find out the latest on the power supply situation. There are electricity generators in action but they are just a poor substitute to proper power supply.

Heavy rains on the coming days might imply on changes to road conditions on the continent. I will post any changes here.

Blog resources on Ilha Grande

We have a detailed destination card on Ilha Grande, as well as a annotated map of Ilha Grande.

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A few days ago we learned of the closure by the authorities of the floating port of Manaus. It is at the floating port where all the liners and cruise ships dock. The reason for the closure is lack of safety due to negligent maintenance of the premises (you can read the full story in Portuguese at the Estado de São Paulo).

In the meantime, the situation is quite confusing. The news report quoted above mentions that an American liner was diverted by the Brazilian navy to the port of Chibatão (a merchant port on the outskirts of Manaus). Then a local jugde granted the ship the right to dock at the floating port – next to the center of the city.

We got in touch with Embratur to find out more about the situation. Through its Flickr profile (@VisitBrasil) we were told that work is in progress at the floating port and that it is estimated it will reopen in January.

In the meantime, our advice is, if you are heading to Manaus, get in touch with your travel agent for more up-do-date information of the implications of the port closure.

P.S.: smaller boats and regional transport continues to operate as usual at the improvised harbour near the market of Manaus.

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updates:

• from 1 January 2010 till 3 April 2010, 50 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 29 Oct 2009, 1368 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 23 Sep 2009, 1047 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 16 Sep 2009, 899 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 10 Sep 2009, 731 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 02 Sep 2009, 657 deaths resulting from the disease. Continues discrepancies between the death toll figures issued by the governments of the different Brazilian states and the Ministry of Health means I will no longer update the tally for individual states. A very clear picture has emerged where the southern states are, by far, the most affected by the flu epidemic.
• 31 Aug 2009, 575 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 27 Aug 2009, according to official figures, the number of new cases of swine flu is decreasing throughout the country. The 1st week of August registered 1,578 serious cases, the 2nd week the number went down to 826 and on the 3rd week there were 273 new cases.
• 26 Aug 2009, 557 deaths resulting from the disease. Most deaths have occurred in the southeastern and southern states of the country: São Paulo (223 deaths), Paraná (151), Rio Grande do Sul (98) and Rio de Janeiro (55) lead the toll. The number of cases on the north and northeast regions is very small.
• 21 Aug 2009, 488 deaths resulting from the disease. Florianópolis and 19 other cities from the state of Santa Catarina declare emergency status due to the advance of swine flue.
• 20 Aug 2009, 404 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 18 Aug 2009, media reports fall in the number of influenza A cases attended at São Paulo hospitals.
• 18 Aug 2009, 379 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 14 Aug 2009, 339 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 12 Aug 2009, 274 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 10 Aug 2009, 191 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 07 Aug 2009, 167 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 04 Aug 2009, 129 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 03 Aug 2009, 92 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 01 Aug 2009, 76 deaths resulting from the disease.
• 31 Jul 2009, 68 deaths resulting from the disease. To control the spread of the virus, classes will resume two weeks later than usual in several states, including Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
• 28 Jul 2009, 55 deaths resulting from the disease
• 27 Jul 2009, 45 deaths resulting from the disease
• 26 Jul 2009, 39 deaths resulting from the disease
• 24 Jul 2009, 1566 cases of swine fever confirmed and 33 deaths resulting from the disease
• 22 Jul 2009, 29 deaths resulting from the disease
• 21 Jul 2009, 20 deaths resulting from the disease
• 16 Jul 2009, 1175 cases of swine fever confirmed and eleven deaths resulting from the disease
• 09 Jul 2009, 1027 cases of swine fever confirmed and two deaths resulting from the disease
• 08 Jul 2009, 977 cases of swine fever confirmed and one death resulting from the disease
• 06 Jul 2009, 905 cases of swine fever confirmed and one death resulting from the disease
• 04 Jul 2009, 885 cases of swine fever confirmed and one death resulting from the disease
• 29 Jun 2009, 627 cases of swine fever confirmed and one death resulting from the disease
• 22 May 2009, nine cases of swine fever confirmed
• 09 May 2009, eight cases of swine fever confirmed
• 07 May 2009, first four cases of swine fever confirmed
• 05 May 2009, no confirmations or dismissals of suspect cases yet
• 04 May 2009, no confirmations or dismissals of suspect cases yet
• 03 May 2009, in spite of repeated claims by the government that the country is prepared to face the flu, not a single suspect case has been confirmed or disregarded yet. We don’t know whether this is due to technical incompetence or deliberate concealment of information

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Up until today, there are no travel restrictions whatsoever imposed on travellers arriving from other countries.

Up-to-date information on ANVISA‘s website, the Brazilian’s government body responsible for disease control. It has a version in English but no up-do-date information can be found on that section.

I’m also adding a link to the US’s CDC website with up-to-date information on the topic:

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RELATED POSTS:
10 facts about dengue fever in Brazil
10 facts about yellow fever in Brazil

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Dengue fever is a regular visitor of this blog. If last year it was Rio de Janeiro that suffered a devastating epidemic, this year the bad news come from the state of Bahia. So far this year there have been 26.597 cases, a 291% increase over 2008. 28 deaths have been confirmed and there are another 59 still unconfirmed.

Among the seven cities worst affected by the epidemic there are two tourist destinations: Ilhéus y Porto Seguro.

You have complete information on dengue fever at this blog’s entry 10 facts about dengue fever in Brazil.

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